'carefully-gathered' originates from the combination of 'carefully' and 'gathered', where 'carefully' comes from 'care' meaning 'attention' and '-fully' meaning 'in a manner of'. 'Gathered' comes from 'gather', meaning 'to collect'.

'carefully-gathered' changed from the Old English word 'gaderian' meaning 'to bring together', and eventually became the modern English word 'gathered'.

Initially, 'gather' meant 'to bring together', but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'to collect with care'.