Where does “stiffly” come from?
Stiffly derives from Middle English stifly with the Middle English adverbial suffix -ly, from Old English -līċ and līką, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European steyp- meaning to compress or press together.
stiffly (English): In a stiff manner
Ancestry of “stiffly”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | stifly | Stiffly, firmly, unmoveably; in a way that makes... |
| 2 | Middle English | stif | Stiff, firm, hard; difficult to move or... |
| 3 | Old English | stīf | — |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | stīf | stiff, rigid |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | stīfaz | stiff, rigid |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | steypós | — |