English: nickname for a person with a cheerful disposition,
from Middle English seely ‘happy’, ‘fortunate’ (Old English
s?lig, from s?l ‘happiness’, ‘good
fortune’). The word was also occasionally used as a female personal
name during the Middle Ages. The sense ‘pitiable’, which developed
into modern English silly, is not attested before the 15th
century.
Altered form of German Seele, respelled to
preserve the bisyllabic pronunciation of the German name.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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