sleʒly

adv.

WA sliʒlysleely

'(made) warily; stealthily' (Modern English slyly, slily)

Etymology

Formed on sleʒe, and cp. OIcel slœgliga ‘slily, cunningly’.

PGmc Ancestor

*slōg-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

 slœgr ‘sly, cunning’; cp. slœgliga ‘slily, cunningly'
(ONP cp. slǿg-liga (adv.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel slægur, Norw sløg, ODan sløv, MSw slögher, Sw dial sløg

OE Cognate

cp. slēan (v.) 'to strike, beat, stamp, coin (money), forge (weapons)'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C1

Attestation

MED cites a handful of early attestations (inc. LB), but only frequent from 14c.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1182; WA 2870, 2962, 5174

See Smith 2000 for remarks on the sense and the phonaesthetic context. The D MS of WA has slyghtly (sleghtly (adv.)) at 2870.

Bibliography

MED sleighlī (adv.) , OED slyly, slily (adv.) , HTOED , Dance sleʒly