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.
hardly, barely (with difficulty) · hardly, barely, scarcely (in a very small measure) · only, just (no more than)
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Vulgar Latin ad Proto-Indo-European *weyk- Proto-Italic *wiks Vulgar Latin vix Vulgar Latin *ad vix Romanian abi Romanian abia Inherited from Vulgar Latin *ad vix, from ad + vix. The original form was abi, a variant found in some dialects; the final -a was added by analogy with adverbs like aci(a), aiure(a), acole(a). This suffixation…
köken: From Middle Welsh breið. The Dictionary of the Welsh Language connects it with Breton bre (“pain, trouble”). Morris Jones, on the other hand, associates it with Ancient Greek βραδύς (bradús, “slow, slow-witted”) and Latin gurdus (“dimwit, numbskull”) (compare also Lithuanian gurdùs (“slow”) and Old Church Slavonic гръдъ (grŭdŭ, “proud”)).
aile: braidd-gyffwrdd, breiddfyw, o fraidd, o'r braidd