bigly

adv.

Gaw bygly

‘mightily, strongly, firmly’

(Modern English bigly)

Etymology

Probably formed on big (adj.).

PGmc Ancestor

(1)*big-; (2) *bug- or *bugg-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

byggva (byggja) 'to settle, inhabit'
(ONP byggja (2), byggva (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Far byggja, Icel byggja, Norw byggja, Dan bygge, Sw bygga; (2) Norw dial bugge, bugga

OE Cognate

(1) bȳan (v.) 'to inhabit, live, dwell'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

D1c

Attestation

Less frequent than big (adj.) but with a similar distribution.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1141, 1162, 1584; Pat 321; WA 423, 1138, 1371

Bibliography

MED biglī (adv.) , OED3 bigly (adv.) , HTOED , Dance bigly