[…] in the lîce of sôthlîce we have the full case-form of a compounded adjective, out of which has been made later the adjective and adverbial suffix ly. Here is illustrated another department of the action of the abbreviating tendency; its aid is essential to the conversion of what was once an independent word into an affix, an appended element denoting relation.
- Whitney (1875), Pag. 52