Etymograph

English

seldomly

Seldomly comes from Middle English selden ‘uncommon’, from Old English selden ‘rare, infrequent’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *seldanaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*seldanaz1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150selden1‘rare, infrequent’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500selden2as seldom‘uncommon’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seldomly3
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1864seldomly3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Middle English selden
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English seldomly
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English seldomly
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1864, Ellen L. Biscoe Hollis, The Winthrops: “the universally felt, yet seldomly acknowledged truth […]”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*seldanazWiktionary, Middle English seldenreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150seldenWiktionary, Middle English selden‘rare, infrequent’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seldenWiktionary, Middle English seldomlyas seldom‘uncommon’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seldomlyWiktionary, English seldomly
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1864seldomlyWiktionary, English seldomly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1864, Ellen L. Biscoe Hollis, The Winthrops: “the universally felt, yet seldomly acknowledged truth […]”

Formed from seldom + -ly

Middle English seldom

English seldom

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *seldanaz

Today it means

adv Seldom; rarely.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “seldomly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Middle English selden, Middle English seldomly. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *seldanaz / seldomly

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