E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Gingerly.
Cautiously, with faltering steps. The Scotch phrase, “gang that gate,” and the Anglo-Saxon gangende (going), applied to an army looking out for ambuscades, would furnish the adverb gangendelic; Swedish, gingla, to go gently.
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“Gingerly, as if treading upon eggs, Cuddie began to ascend the well-known pass.”—Scott: Old Mortality, chap. xxv.
