'seldom-gathered' originates from the combination of 'seldom' and 'gathered', where 'seldom' meant 'rarely' and 'gathered' meant 'collected or assembled'.

'seldom' changed from Old English 'seldan' meaning 'rarely', and 'gathered' from Old English 'gadrian', eventually forming the modern English compound adjective 'seldom-gathered'.

Initially, 'seldom' meant 'rarely' and 'gathered' meant 'collected', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.