In a quiet, gentle, or delicate manner; without force or harshness.
From Old English 'softe,' meaning tender or gentle, with roots in Proto-Germanic. The '-ly' suffix converts the adjective to an adverb by the Middle English period.
Softly comes from a root meaning 'easy' or 'gentle'—so speaking softly is literally speaking the easy way, with no effort or aggression! It's the linguistic opposite of the hard, forceful sounds in words like 'grabbed.'
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