seldom: [OE] Seldom goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *selda-, of which the underlying notion appears to have been ‘strange and rare’. Its modern Germanic relatives include German selten, Dutch zelten, Swedish sällan, and Danish sjelden.
seldom (adv.)
late Old English seldum, alteration of seldan "seldom, rarely," from Proto-Germanic *selda- "strange, rare" (cognates: Old Norse sjaldan, Old Frisian selden, Dutch zelden, Old High German seltan, German selten), perhaps ultimately from the base of self (q.v.).
Form shifted on analogy of adverbial dative plurals in -um (such as whilom "at one time," from while). The same development also created litlum from little, miclum from mickle. German seltsam "strange, odd," Dutch zeldzaam are related, but with the second element conformed to their versions of -some.
Seldom-times is from mid-15c. (Old English had seldhwanne "seldwhen"). Seldom-seen is from mid-15c. (Old English had seldsiene, "seld-seen").
Some compounds using the old form survived through Middle English, such as selcouth"rarely or little-known, unusual, strange, wonderful," from Old English selcuð, seld-cuð, from seldan + cuð (see couth). Old English seldan had comparative seldor, superlative seldost; in early Middle English, as seldan changed form and lost its connection with these, selde was formed as a positive. Shakespeare uses seld-shown.
实用例句
1. Even Ford, who seldom smiled, laughed out loud a few times.
即使是很少笑的福特，有几次也笑出声来。来自柯林斯例句
2. They seldom speak.
他们很少发言。来自柯林斯例句
3. I've seldom felt so happy.
我很少感觉如此幸福。来自柯林斯例句
4. We were seldom at home.
我们常不在家。来自柯林斯例句
5. He had seldom seen a child with so much talent.
