English
properly
Properly comes from proper + -ly; proper comes from Middle English propre, from Anglo-Norman propre, from Latin proprius ‘one's own’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proprijosuncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEproprius‘one's own; proper’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400propre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500propre
- English1500–presentproper
- Englishearliest quotation 1941properly
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proprijosuncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEproprius‘one's own; proper’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400propre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500propre
- English1500–presentproper
- Englishearliest quotation 1941properly
Earliest quotation: 1941, Virginia Woolf: “I know that I am spoiling your life that…”
A compound of *pro- ‘pro-’ + *prijos
Proto-Indo-European *pro- ‘toward, forward’
Proto-Italic *pro- ‘pro-’
Proto-Indo-European *preyH- ‘to please’
Proto-Indo-European *priHós ‘pleased’
Proto-Italic *prijos
Linked words
through Latin proprius ‘appropriate to oneself: (one's) proper,…’
Today it means
adv In a proper manner, appropriately, suitably; correctly, justifiably
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *proprijos / properly