Meaning

adjective before a time limit expires

adjective done or happening at the appropriate or proper time

adverb at an opportune time

originFrom Middle English timely, tymely, timliche, from Old English *tīmlīc (adjective) and tīmlīċe (“in good time; timely; soon”, adverb), equivalent to time + -ly. Cognate with Danish timelig, Swedish timlig, Icelandic tímalegur, tímanlegur.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0