A ceremony you are watching from a distance: the long approach, the even proportions, the pace that nobody is allowed to rush. One way to hold the word is that it always says the same thing about scale and self-possession, and only changes whether you are looking at a thing, a movement, or a person.
可以想成你站在遠處看一場典禮：要走很長一段路才到、一切比例對稱、節奏慢到沒有人被允許催促。stately 講的一直是同一件事——尺度夠大、姿態夠穩、不慌不忙。真正在變的只是你看的對象：看建築，它是氣派；看動作，它是隆重的慢；看人，它是鎮得住場面的威儀。
From the word’s history
From Middle English stately, analysable as state + the adjective suffix -ly. State here carries its older sense of ceremony and public grandeur.
來自中古英語 stately，拆開看是 state 加上形容詞字尾 -ly。這裡的 state 用的是它比較舊的意思：典禮、朝廷的排場。所以這個字的底色一直是「大典的規格」。
Wiktionary entry for stately, etymology 1 (packet etymology_text: "From Middle English staately... By surface analysis, state + -ly (adjectival suffix).")
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