Where does “sweetly” come from?

Sweetly comes from Middle English swetly, from Old English swētlīċe, an adverbial form meaning in a sweet manner.

sweetly (English): In a sweet or pleasant manner

Definitions

  1. In a sweet or pleasant manner

Ancestry of “sweetly”, step by step

sweetly traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English sweet

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishsweetHaving a pleasant taste, especially one relating...
2Middle Englishswetesweet, pleasant-tasting; sweet in smell;...
3Old Englishswētesweet
4Proto-West Germanicswōtīsweet
5Proto-Germanicswōtuzsweet
6Proto-Indo-Europeanswéh₂dussweet
7Proto-Indo-Europeansweh₂d-sweet

via Middle English swetly

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishswetly—
2Old Englishswētlīċesweetly; pleasantly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European sweh₂d- →