just

{{11}}just (adj.) late 14c., "righteous in the eyes of God; upright, equitable, impartial; justifiable, reasonable," from O.Fr. juste "just, righteous; sincere" (12c.), from L. iustus "upright, equitable," from ius "right," especially "legal right, law," from O.Latin ious, perhaps lit. "sacred formula," a word peculiar to Latin (not general Italic) that originated in the religious cults, from PIE root *yewes- "law" (Cf. Avestan yaozda- "make ritually pure;" see JURIST (Cf. jurist)). The more mundane Latin law-word lex covered specific laws as opposed to the body of laws. The noun meaning "righteous person or persons" is from late 14c.

{{12}}just (adv.) "merely, barely," 1660s, from M.E. sense of "exactly, precisely, punctually" (c.1400), from JUST (Cf. just) (adj.), and paralleling the adverbial use of Fr. juste. Just-so story first attested 1902 in Kipling, from the expression just so "exactly that, in that very way" (1751).