Sely

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Archaic word describing someone fortunate or blessed ; innocent and harmless in nature ; poor, wretched, or deserving of pity
2. An old English adjective for being blessed or lucky ; meaning innocent and without harm ; describing someone poor or pitiable
3. Dated term for a person who is favoured or blessed ; suggesting innocence and harmlessness ; expressing that someone is wretched and pitiful

Etymology: Old English "sǣliġ" meant "blessed" or "fortunate," and the word's most surprising turn is that it once described a good quality while today it means something close to its opposite. Its Middle English form "sely" carried that sense of holiness and good fortune, so a person called "sely" could be pious, innocent, or simply lucky. Over the centuries the sense of divine favour weakened, and the word came to suggest simplicity and then a lack of worldly wisdom, a meaning that persisted in dialect and in literary use. The root goes back to Proto-West Germanic "*sālīg," meaning "happy," and it is related to the Old English noun "sǣl," meaning "happiness" or "good fortune." The same root gave English "seel," the Middle English word from which "sely" is formed with the suffix "-y."

Synonyms: blessed, happy, innocent, simple

Antonyms: wicked