ETYMOLOGY
from glee (n.) + -some
EXAMPLE
“… This Smith was a quaint sire,
As merry as Bird on brier.
Iocund and gleesome at euery sith,
His countenance aye, buxome and blith,
His face full coaly and full black,
Hued like vnto a Colliers sacke,
Or as if it had been soile in the mier,
Full of wrinkles was his cheeks with the fier…”
From: The Merry Tales of the Cobler of Canterburie
Anonymous, 1590
Lexicophilia 