Goodly (pronounced good-lee)
(1) Of a substantial size or quantity.
(2) Of a good or fine appearance (rare).
(3) Of fine quality (obsolete).
(4) Highly virtuous (obsolete unless quantity is thought
virtuous which does seem possible).
Pre 1000: From the Middle English, from the Old English gōdlīc, from the Proto-Germanic gōdalīkaz (equivalent to the Old English
gōd (good)). The construct was good + -ly. Good was from the Middle English good & god, from Old English gōd (that
which is good, a good thing; goodness; advantage, benefit; gift; virtue;
property), from the Proto-West Germanic gōd,
from the Proto-Germanic gōdaz, from the
primitive Indo-European ghed (to unite, be associated, suit). It was cognate with the Dutch goed, the
German gut, the Old Norse gōthr, the Gothic goths & the Russian го́дный (gódnyj) (fit, well-suited, good for)
& год (god) (year). The –ly prefix was from the Middle English -ly, -li, -lik & -lich, from the Old English -līċ, from the Proto-West Germanic -līk, from the Proto-Germanic -līkaz (having the body or form of), from
līką (body) (from whence Modern
German gained lich); in form, it was
probably influenced by the Old Norse -ligr
(-ly) and was cognate with the Dutch -lijk,
the German -lich and the Swedish -lig.
It was used (1) to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the
sense of "behaving like, having a likeness or having a nature typical of
what is denoted by the noun" and (2) to form adjectives from nouns
specifying time intervals, the adjectives having the sense of "occurring
at such intervals". Goodly, goodlier & goodliest are adjectives and
goodliness is a noun.
Lindsay Lohan with a largifical show of skin and a goodly sprinkle of freckles in Lynn Kiracofe tiara & Frye boots with Calvin Klein Original’s blue cotton jeans over white polyester and spandex XT Trunk briefs, W Magazine photo shoot, April 2005.
In English, goodly was long used to mean (1) someone or
some act thought commendable or virtuous, (2) an item of high quality, (3) something
or someone attractive and (4) ample or numerous in quality. It was thus variously a synonym of many words
including ample, big, biggish, burly, capacious, comprehensive, decent,
extensive, good, great, gross, hefty, husky, jumbo, largish, major, massive,
ponderous, respectable, sensible, beautiful & virtuous. However, by the mid-twentieth century most
senses of goodly had gone extinct and the word was only ever used of something quantitative. Even then it was (and remains) rare but it
exists in a niche populated by poets and literary novelists so its audience is
thus limited. As an example of the inconsistency
in English’s evolution, the sense of virtue did survive in the noun goodliness. An alternative to goodly when speaking of
quantities was largifical and unlike goodly, it did not survive although large
obviously has flourished. The adjective
largifical was from the Latin largificus,
from largus (bountiful, liberal), the
construct being an adaptation (via facere (in fact)) of larg(us) + faciō (do, make),
from the Proto-Italic fakjō, from the
primitive Indo-European dheh- (to put, place, set), the cognates of which included
the Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi), the Sanskrit दधाति (dádhāti), the
Old English dōn (from which English ultimately
gained “do”) and the Lithuanian dėti
(to put). So, beyond the confines of the
literary novel, the preferred alternatives to goodly and largifical include sufficient,
adequate, plenty, abundant, enough, satisfactory, plentiful, copious, profuse, rich,
lavish, liberal, generous, bountiful, large, huge, great, bumper, flush,
prolific, overflowing, generous & ample, the choice dictated by the nuances
of need.
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