'carefully-collected' originates from the combination of 'carefully' and 'collected', where 'carefully' is derived from 'care' meaning 'attention' and '-fully' indicating 'in a manner of'. 'Collected' comes from 'collect', which originates from Latin 'colligere', meaning 'to gather together'.

'carefully' evolved from Middle English 'careful', and 'collected' from Middle English 'collecten', eventually forming the modern English compound adjective 'carefully-collected'.

Initially, 'carefully' meant 'full of care', and 'collected' meant 'gathered'. Together, they evolved to mean 'gathered with attention to detail'.