Entries linking to currently
c. 1300, curraunt, "running, flowing, moving along" (a sense now archaic), from Old French corant "running, lively, eager, swift," present participle of corre "to run," from Latin currere "to run, move quickly" (of persons or things), from PIE root *kers- "to run." Related: Currentness.
Sense of "presently in effect" is from mid-15c. Meaning "prevalent, generally reported or known" is from 1560s; that of "established by common consent" is from 1590s; that of "now passing, present now, in progress" is from c. 1600. Of money, "passing from one person to another," late 15c. Current events is attested from 1795; current affairs by 1776.
common adverbial suffix, forming from adjectives adverbs signifying "in a manner denoted by" the adjective, Middle English, from Old English -lice, from Proto-Germanic *-liko- (cognates: Old Frisian -like, Old Saxon -liko, Dutch -lijk, Old High German -licho, German -lich, Old Norse -liga, Gothic -leiko); see -ly (1). 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.
Share currently
updated on August 11, 2012
Dictionary entries near currently
curly
curmudgeon
currant
currency
current
currently
curricular
curriculum
curriculum vitae
currier
currish