seemly

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English semeli, also semlich,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old Norse sœmiligr (“becoming, honourable”),^{[5][4][6][7][8][3]} from sœmr (“fitting”) and the suffix -ligr.^[4][6] Etymonline says "probably", and the Middle English Dictionary only compares the Old Norse word with a query.^[3][2] The base adjective is also the source of the Old Norse verb behind seem,^[9][3] and the American Heritage Dictionary refers it to the root Proto-Indo-European *sem-.^[5] The adverb is borrowed from Old Norse sœmiliga (“becomingly”).^[9][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, pleasing in appearance, handsome: before 1225, in the Legend of St Katherine,^[9] where the Middle English Dictionary quotes ti semliche schape.^[2] Etymonline has about 1200, and Dictionary.com 1175–1225.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline sums up the notion as "suited to the object, occasion, purpose, or character".^[3] From early on the word had both sides, handsome in looks and proper in conduct, the latter already in the Ancrene Riwle.^[9] Chaucer used the adjective 11 times and the adverb 7 times, as in Ful semely hir wympel pynched was.^[11][2] Etymonline finds "worthy of respect" from the late 14th century.^[3] Influenced by seem, the word also meant "likely" and "apparent" in later Middle English and after,^[9] a use that lasted in dialect: the adverb "seemingly" was heard from Northumberland and Yorkshire to Somerset.^[12][9] Johnson (1755) gave "decent; becoming; proper; fit",^[13] and the sense "handsome" is now obsolete except in dialect, as in the Yorkshire a reight seemly lass.^[9][12][14]

Timeline

• before 1225 – of a person, handsome, of pleasing appearance (obsolete except in dialect).^[9]
• c. 1225 – of conduct or speech, proper, decorous.^[9]
• c. 1305 – of things, pleasant to the sight, handsome.^[9]
• c. 1320 – adverb, fittingly, becomingly.^[9]
• before 1325 – adverb, in a pleasing manner.^[9]
• c. 1325 – noun use, a seemly person (obsolete by 1450).^[9]
• before 1375 – suitable to a person or occasion (obsolete by 1634).^[9]
• before 1400 – likely (obsolete by 1496).^[9]
• before 1450 – apparent, seeming (obsolete by 1801).^[9]
• 1821 – adverb, in dialect, apparently, in J. Clare.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Proper or fitting; in good taste: It was hardly seemly to laugh at the funeral.^[14][4][9]
2. Pleasing to the eye; well proportioned.^[4][9]
3. (obsolete except in dialect) Of a person, handsome or good-looking.^[9][14][4]

Adverb

1. (archaic) In a fitting manner; decorously.^[14][4][6]
2. (archaic) In an attractive manner.^[4][9][6]
3. (dialect) Apparently, seemingly.^[9][6][12]

Word family

• seemliness

Related words

• seem
• unseemly
• same

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins