Does "familially" exist?
In English, does the word "familially" exist? As in, "familial" (relating to a family), but as an adverb?
8 Answers
You're making me think with this one Sonrisa! 
It is not a word we use often and I even questioned its existence, but click here and you will see that the word is used. 
Who knew? 
In English, does the word "familially" exist? As in, "familial" (relating to a family), but as an adverb?
Neither the OED nor Webster's New World Dictionary currently recognizes the word "familially." That being said, whether the word is acceptable or not probably depends on the criteria with which you judge it. It might be simple enough to take the position that if the term does not appear in a reputable dictionary then it does not represent a legitimate word.
Then again, this would fail to consider the fact that it is usage that ultimately determines the acceptability of a word; moreover, it would ignore the vast amount of words which are used daily but do not or did not at one time appear in a dictionary. In short, if enough people use a word for a long enough period of time, that word eventually becomes a "standard" part of the language. In this case, a true barometer in terms of acceptability would probably need to take into account just how prevalent the word is in actual conversation. In any event, the fact that you have to ask whether or not the word exists probably tips the scales, at least a little bit, towards the side of disapprobation.
One other factor to take into consideration is the practicality of its use—how reasonable or necessary is the word. Namely, does a common expression or word already exist that conveys the same meaning as the word in question. If we look at the word "familial," we see that it can be taken to mean "pertaining to or characteristic of a family." Turning this into an adverbial phrase, we might construct an expression such as "in a manner pertaining to or characteristic of a family." Looking at the meaning from this perspective, we might apply what we have to a sentence in the following manner:
?They ate dinner in a manner characteristic of a family
Taking into consideration the meaning of the highlighted expression, we could probably get away with shortening it to something like:
?They ate dinner like a family
?They ate dinner as a family
I would imagine (but could very well be wrong) that the two expression previously listed would likely be not only far more common but also far more aesthetically appealing than something like "They ate dinner familially."
In terms of Spanish, I suppose that one way to convey a similar idea (and I am sure that there are more and probably better ways) might be to use an expression such as "como una familia" as we might see in the following statements (excerpted from an advice column):
?Diseñar el menú juntos. Sentarse como una familia y hacer una lista de los platos que te gustaría tener.
?Diseño de un “plan de juego” para el día. Funciona como una familia para decidir cómo pasar la tarde.
yes it is and it goes in the adverb group
Yes, it exists. And yes, it is an adverb. And a perfectly good one, if you ask me!
But originally, I did find it in a scientific article. For some reason I wasn't able to link it to this page. But I did see the word used in the article.
If this is the case, it may simply be a case of scientific jargon leaking into the general lexicon. There are probably thousands of scientific terms that you will not find in your run of the mill dictionary, nor will you often find such specialized words in common usage, that is, in ordinary speech.
Based on my own background in biology, I would imagine that the term "familially" might well pertain to discussions on patterns of inheritance as one might find in medicine or in studies of population genetics and the like. For example, I would not find it strange in such a context to see expressions such as "inherited familially" or "familially inherited." Again, this is probably fairly specialized terminology and would not likely be found in common usage except in such unique contexts.
Edit:
I did just find the following article, available through pubmed in which the expression "familially inherited" was used in the paper's abstract: Risk determination in cases with an extra minute chromosome: prenatal diagnosis.
I have never heard anything like that in any of the languages I know, but I would probably say something like "de la familia"
"Es una cosa de la familia" (It is a family thing)
Hey, here's a doozy of a word that I used one time: LEVIATHANICITY.
En Españól, LEVIATANICIDAD.
It refers to the quality or state of resembling or having some association with a leviathan. You want leviathanicity? Look at the U.S. federal debt.
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, in its chapter on Lexical Word-Formation, distinguishes established words from potential words. In English, affixes may be attached to bases and other affixes in certain ways to validly form words. But, accordance with the principles doesn't automatically render a word acceptable, for better or for worse. Lexicographers don't recognize a word unless it is well attested. If someone protests your use of a word such as "familially", you don't have any standard to appeal to. The Cambridge Grammar says that people vary in their reactions to newly-formed words.
I was thinking about "familally" today; I once tried to use it, figuring that if "familial" were an adjective, then "familially" should be a legitimate adverb, because adverbs are formed by suffixing -ly to adjectives. I should have realized it is done so in many cases, but not all. And, "potentially", "cordially", "diagonally", et al.. do not justify "familially".
I admit that it's hard to think of a case in which one would actually find "familially" useful.
