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.AdvertisementWant to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.Trends of awfully adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.More to exploregiddy-upcommand to a horse to go, 1909, probably an extended form of earlier giddap (1867), itself probably from get up. Compare gee. The terms used to start horses in harness and to urge them to a better appreciation of the value of time comprise vulgar corruptions of ordinary speech areckonc. 1200, recenen, rekenen, "enumerate, count up; name one by one; relate, recount; make calculations," from Old English gerecenian "to explain, relate, recount; arrange in order," from Proto-Germanic *(ga)rakinaz "ready, straightforward" (source also of Old Frisian rekenia, Middlelf"one of a race of powerful supernatural beings in Germanic folklore," Old English elf (Mercian, Kentish), ælf (Northumbrian), ylfe (plural, West Saxon) "sprite, fairy, goblin, incubus," from Proto-Germanic *albiz (source also of Old Saxon alf, Old Norse alfr, German alp "evil spidivinelate 14c., "pertaining to, of the nature of, or proceeding from God or a god; addressed to God," from Old French divin, devin (12c.), from Latin divinus "of a god," from divus "of or belonging to a god, inspired, prophetic," related to deus "god, deity" (from PIE root *dyeu- "to respitemid-13c., "extension of time for an action, deliberation, etc., grace period; postponement of an action, judgment, etc.," from Old French respit "delay, respect" (Modern French répit), from Latin respectus "consideration, recourse, regard," literally "act of looking back (or oftememe"an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture," 1976, introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene," coined by him from Greek sources, such as mimeisthai "to imitate" (see mime (n.)), and intended to echo gene. We npoiseearly 15c., pois, "weight, quality of being heavy," later "significance, importance" (mid-15c.), from Old French pois "weight, balance, consideration" (12c., Modern French poids, with -d- added 16c. on supposed derivation from Latin pondus "weight"), from Medieval Latin pesum "weintegrityc. 1400, integrite, "innocence, blamelessness; chastity, purity," from Old French integrité and directly from Latin integritatem (nominative integritas) "soundness, wholeness, completeness," figuratively "purity, correctness, blamelessness," from integer "whole" (see integer). Thscorelate Old English scoru "twenty," from Old Norse skor "mark, notch, incision; a rift in rock," also, in Icelandic, "twenty," from Proto-Germanic *skur-, from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut." The notion probably is of counting large numbers (of a passing flock of sheep, etc.) by makinlegacylate 14c., legacie, "body of persons sent on a mission," from Medieval Latin legatia, from Latin legatus "ambassador, envoy, deputy," noun use of past participle of legare "send with a commission, appoint as deputy, appoint by a last will" (see legate). Sense of "property left byShare awfully‘cite’Page URL:https://www.etymonline.com/word/awfullyCopyHTML Link:<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/awfully">Etymology of awfully by etymonline</a>CopyAPA Style:Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of awfully. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved June 29, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/awfullyCopyChicago Style:Harper Douglas, "Etymology of awfully," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed June 29, 2025, https://www.etymonline.com/word/awfully.CopyMLA Style:Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of awfully." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/awfully. Accessed 29 June, 2025.CopyIEEE Style:D. Harper. "Etymology of awfully." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/awfully (accessed June 29, 2025).CopyRemove AdsAdvertisementWant to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.TrendingDictionary entries near awfullyaweaweighawesomeawestruckawfulawfullyawhileawhirl*awi-awingawkAdvertisementCloseWant to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.CloseABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZQuick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words. Scholarly, yet simple.AboutWho Did ThisSourcesIntroductionLinksSupportPremiumPatreonMerchAppsDarkAutoLightTerms of ServicesPrivacy PolicyEnglish (English)© 2001 - 2025 Douglas Harper, Our first one is this – what does the phrase “awfully good” mean?! Well – the adjective “awful” always means “very bad”: That was an awful restaurant = a very bad restaurant And the adverb “awfully” means “very badly” when it comes after a verb: She performed awfully on the test., Since "awful" means "very bad," it makes sense that "awfully" means "very badly." Now, consider these two sentences: 1) Google is an awfully good search engine. 2) Bing is an awfully bad search engine. In the second example, regardless of the adjective's connotation, "awfully" just acts as an intensifier - it simply means "very.".