Etymograph

English

hardly

Hardly comes from Old English heardlīċe ‘boldly; not easily’, from heard ‘hard’, from Proto-Germanic *harduz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*harduz‘hard’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hard(ī)‘hard’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150heard‘hard’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150heardlīċe‘boldly’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hardely
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1816hardly

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*harduz‘hard’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hard(ī)‘hard’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150heard‘hard’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150heardlīċe‘boldly’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hardely
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1816hardly

Earliest quotation: 1816, – 1817 April/May, The Modern Prometheus. […]: “Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly, that…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kret- ‘strong, powerful’

rather, bureaucracy, bureaucratic, aristocracy, bureaucrat, 42 more

through Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī) ‘hard’

harden, 2 more

through Old English heard ‘hard, harsh, austere, severe, rigorous, stern,…’

hardship, hardness, 2 more

Today it means

adv Barely, only just, almost not.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *harduz / hardly

Shirt and support for this word