Post History

How does the original meaning of “but” (“outside”) relate to its current 2021 meanings?

How do the principal 2021 meanings of ["but"](https://www.lexico.com/definition/but) relate, if any, to its original meaning of "outside"? E.g. how does "no more than; only" appertain to "outside"? 

>### CONJUNCTION

>1. Used to introduce a phrase or clause contrasting with what has already been mentioned.

>2. [with negative or in questions] Used to indicate the impossibility of anything other than what is being stated.

>5. [archaic with negative] Without it being the case that.

>### ADVERB

>1. No more than; only.

John Ayto, *Word Origins* (2005 2e), p 84 Left column.

>### but [OE]

>*But* originally meant ‘outside’. It was a
compound word formed in prehistoric West
Germanic from _*be_ (source of English *by*) and
_*ūtana_ (related to English *out*). This gave Old
English *būtan*, which quickly developed in
meaning from ‘outside’ to ‘without, except’, as
in ‘all but me’ (the sense ‘outside’ survived
longer in Scotland than elsewhere). The modern conjunctive use of *but* did not develop until the
late 13th century.