English
gingerly
Gingerly may come from Anglo-Norman gençur.
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400gençuruncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1573gingerly
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400gençuruncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1573gingerly
Earliest quotation: 1573, Gabriel Harvey, The Schollars Loove, or Reconcilement of Contraryes: “All yᵉ rest of my trimmest, tricksiest, gingerliest ioyes,…”
The story
The second element is -ly; the first element may be Anglo-Norman gençur or Old French gençor, gensor, comparative forms (also attested as positives) of gent (‘beautiful, noble, pleasant, courteous’). The Oxford English Dictionary notes, however, that there is a gap of a few centuries between the last appearance of gençor, etc., and the first appearance of gingerly.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’
kind, general, nature, nation, native, king, pregnant, german, generation, engine, ken, gender, genetic, genius, gene, oxygen, genuine, gentle, genre, indigenous, hydrogen, naive, genocide, noel, genus, natal, kin, innate, genital, nee, nativity, nada, nascent, naïve, janata, ingenious, gentile, puny, germ, gens, 115 more
Today it means
adv In a cautious and delicate manner; (very) carefully or cautiously.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Anglo-Norman gençur / gingerly