も after the adverbial form of i-adjectives

Question

Usually, the particle は or も after the adverbial form of i-adjectives is followed by ない, but I was reading a friend's text where she said:

寒くなってきました。早くも「着る毛布」をクローゼットから取り出し、着ています。

When I was writing this question, I thought: "Wait. What about looking the whole word up in the dictionary beforehand?", and I was surprised there was a definition of 早くも, but although now I understand the meaning of it, I still don't understand the meaning of that も itself, because I was wondering that maybe that も would show up in other similar occasions too and it would be good to know more about it, and guess what, there are many of them: 辛くも, 惜しくも, 少なくも. What is the meaning or nuance of that も and is there a difference with とも as in 少なくとも?

Answer 1

This (く)も is a conjunctive particle similar to ても, とも, "although" or "even if (it's)". See: Understanding 形容詞+くも

However, 早くも and 早くとも have different usages today.

• 早くも means "although it's early" or "as early as".
• 早くとも means "at the earliest" or "no earlier than".

Examples:

• 開会式は早くも8月だ。
  The opening ceremony will be held as early as August.
  _{(It's surprisingly early, but it's August)}
• 開会式は早くとも8月だ。
  The opening ceremony will be held no earlier than August.
  _{(It may be held in September)}

Note that this type of (く)も is basically a particle from classical Japanese. In modern Japanese, it is mainly used in set expressions and patterns like the following. While it's possible to combine it with other arbitrary adjectives, doing so would make it sound not just literary but archaic.

• AくもB: A-yet-B (e.g., 新しくも懐かしい new yet nostalgic)
• 惜しくも: Regrettably, ...
• 悲しくも: Although sad, ...
• くしくも: Coincidentally, ...
• からくも: barely; by a narrow margin
• いやしくも: although it's presumptuous; humbly; if I may
• よくも: How dare you ...

少なくとも is a common set phrase. 少なくも is rare, but it may appear when contrasting two qualities:

• 少なくも心強い援助
  a small yet encouraging aid
• 少なくとも心強い援助 (ambiguous)
  a small but encouraging aid
  an aid that is at least encouraging

(Not to be confused with perfectly modern constructions like 少なくも多くもない, where も means "even", "also", etc.)