primallyadv.
/ˈprʌɪml̩i/, /ˈprʌɪməli/, U.S. /ˈpraɪməli/ Originally: in the first place, from the earliest time. Now chiefly: in a primitive or primeval manner; essentially, fundamentally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > oldness or ancientness > [adverb] > primitively
earlya1275
primitively1635
primally1723
1723 Life P. Alexowitz 270 The Infringement of the Law of Nations, occasion'd primally by the Sheriff, as the Author of the whole Mischief.
1875 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera V. lviii. 296 The carrying out of the primally accepted laws of Obedience and Economy.
1887 E. P. Powell Heredity fr. God 146 Primally, Adam was perfect, morally and physically.
1920 B. Wendell Trad. European Lit. from Homer to Dante iv. ii. 151 A glimpse of him is like a peep into a world more primally innocent than this coarse, naughty world of ours.
1956 C. P. Snow Homecomings xii. 69 She felt it so primally that for once she gave up thinking of her husband's health.
1979 T. Shalvey C. Lévi-Strauss iv. 56 Language, for Rousseau, was originally, primally, figurative affective emotional communication.
2002 Guardian (Nexis) 26 Aug. i. 14 British artists seem to be the only ones capable of dispensing with theories and political cliches... There's something primally British about this.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adv.1723