barely, hardly (qualifying verbs or adjectives) · barely any, almost no (qualifying amounts) · difficult, nearly impossible
eş: wenig, schwerlich
köken: From Middle High German kūme, from Old High German kūmo, from Proto-Germanic *kūmaz, *kūmijaz (“weak, pitiful, frail”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (“to call, cry”). Cognate with English comely and archaic Dutch kuim (“barely”).
barely, hardly · just, recently, newly · as soon as
eş: a fatica, a mala pena, a stento, con difficoltà, faticosamente, stentatamente
köken: Inherited from Vulgar Latin *ad poenam. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + pena (“pain, trouble”). Compare French à peine, Spanish apenas, etc.
Ti si sente appena con tutto questo baccano.
È appena arrivata, dalle un po' di tempo per riposarsi.
eş: только, всего, единственно, исключительно, лишь только, только
köken: Old East Slavic лише (liše), originally comparative form of лихъ (lixŭ, “bad”). Compare with Ukrainian лише́ (lyšé), лишень (lyšenʹ) and лиш (lyš), Carpathian Rusyn лиш (lyš).
aile: всего лишь, лишь бы, лишь только, только лишь
a little, slightly · barely (with great difficulty) · almost
köken: Clipping of ле́дзьве (ljédzʹvje). Cognate with Ukrainian ледь (ledʹ).
ледзь узышло сонца, я рушыў у дарогу
Etimoloji
From Middle Dutch cume (“barely; almost”), from Old Dutch, from Proto-Germanic *kūma- (“pitiful, dear”). Cognate to German kaum (“barely”) and come in English comely.