Solemnly means in a grave and serious way. Solemnly swear, nodded solemnly, solemnly declare.
I solemnly swear is the standing form of an oath, and solemnly affirm is the alternative for anybody who does not swear. A child nodding solemnly is one of the most reliably charming things in the language, which is a strange use of a heavy word.
1adverbsolemnlyIn a grave and serious way.
“The soldiers stood solemnly by the grave as the coffin was lowered.”
solemnly is a manner.
Proto-Indo-European
*solh₂-
Latin
sōlempnis
Old French
solempne
Middle English
solempne
English
solemn
English, today
solemnly
Built from
From solemn + -ly. solemn comes from Middle English solempne, solemne (“performed with religious ceremony or reverence; devoted to religious observances, sacred; ceremonious, formal; of a vow: made under a religious sanction, binding; religious celebration, celebration of a feast day; famous, well-known; important; grand, imposing; awe-inspiring, impressive; grave, serious; dignified; enunciated or held formally”)solem, solemp, solempe, solempn, sollempne, solom, solen, solenne, sollen, sollene, from Old French solempne, solemne (“serious, solemn”)solene, sollempne, or from its etymon Latin sōlempnis, sōlennis, from Latin sōlemnis, from sollemnis (“appointed, established, fixed; common, customary, ordinary, ritual, traditional, usual; ceremonial, religious, solemn; festive; annual, yearly”)sollennis, sollempnis. The further etymology is uncertain; sollus (“entire, whole”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European solh₂- (“whole”)) + epulum (“banquet, feast”) (in the sense of a ritual; perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₁ed- (“to eat”)) has been suggested.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA