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Origin and history of accordingly

accordingly(adv.)

mid-14c., "in agreement with" (now obsolete), from according + -ly (2). From mid-15c. as "properly, adequately;" meaning "agreeably with logic or expectation" is from 1680s.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to accordingly

according(adj./adv.)

c. 1300, "matching, similar, corresponding" (a sense now obsolete), present-participle adjective and adverb from accord (v.). The meanings "conforming (to), compliant, in agreement; consistent, harmonious; suitable, appropriate" are from late 14c.

According to "referring to," literally "in a manner agreeing with" is from late 14c. As an adverb, "often applied to persons, but referring elliptically to their statements or opinions" [Century Dictionary].

-ly(2)

common adverbial suffix, forming, from adjectives, adverbs signifying "in a manner denoted by" the adjective; Middle English -li, from Old English -lice, from Proto-Germanic *-liko- (source also of Old Frisian -like, Old Saxon -liko, Dutch -lijk, Old High German -licho, German -lich, Old Norse -liga, Gothic -leiko). See -ly (1). It is cognate with lich, and identical with like (adj.).

Weekley notes as "curious" that Germanic uses a word essentially meaning "body" for the adverbial formation, while Romanic uses one meaning "mind" (as in French constamment from Latin constanti mente). The modern English form emerged in late Middle English, probably from influence of Old Norse -liga.

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