Etymology

ME heterly is very close in form and sense to two groups of OE words in -lic(e): OE hetelic ‘hostile, violent’ (adv. hetelice), a denominal adj. (adv.) formed on the commonplace noun OE hete; and OE hetollice ‘violently’, a deadjectival derivation on hetol ‘hostile, fierce’, itself formed on hete with the adj.-forming suffix -ol. However, the source of the novel medial -er- in the ME word is debated. Influence from the ON cognate, cp. OIcel hatrliga ‘hatefully’, with surviving -r from a PIE s- stem would explain it (so MED, McGee 336); but the vocalism of ME heterly is not a good match for ON hatr-, and there is evidence elsewhere in WGmc for an adjectival formation in -er, viz. MLG hetter ‘fierce’. It is therefore perhaps more plausible to regard ME heter- as a parallel to MLG hetter, i.e. a derivation using the -r suffix (potentially on the related verb OE hettan ‘to chase, persecute’) or an alteration of OE hetol by association with such words as bitterliche (d’Ardenne 155–6). See also heter.

PGmc Ancestor

*xat-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

hatr 'hatred'; hatrliga ‘hatefully’
(ONP hatr (n.); hatrliga (adv.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far hatur, Icel hatur, Norw hat, Dan had, OSw hat

OE Cognate

hete (n.) 'hate, envy, malice, persecution, punishment' (hetelic ‘hostile, violent’; or hetollice ‘violently’), or hettan (v.) ‘to chase, persecute’ 

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC1ac

Attestation

Several occurrences in the SWM in early ME (the AB group), but by the later 14c. characteristic esp. of N and EM texts, with some exceptions esp. in alliterative contexts (inc. WPal., and Chaucer in an alliterative phrase).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1152, 1446, 1462, etc.; Pe 403; Cl 380, 1222; Pat 381, 477, 481; WA 264, 669, 678 etc. 

At WA 2910, the A MS reads <hately>, and at 1659 <hertly>.

Bibliography

MED hēterlī (adv.) , OED heterly, hetterly (adj. and adv.) , HTOED , HTOED , de Vries hata, Mag. hata, Bj-L hat, Bammesberger 212, Orel *xataz ~ *xatez, Kroonen *hatiz-, AEW hete