What does "as" mean in these sentences?

[eggcracker]

"Poor as Tom is, he is honest and diligent."
"Happy as they were, there was something missing."
If I understand "as" as "because" it doesn't make sense above.
But, understanding "as" as "while or when" also doesn't make sense.I go through Collins Dictionary but couldn't find proper explanaitions. What does "as" mean far above two sentences?

 

[albertino]

"Poor as Tom is, he is honest and diligent."
"Happy as they were, there was something missing."
If I understand "as" as "because" it doesn't make sense above.
But, understanding "as" as "while or when" also doesn't make sense.I go through Collins Dictionary but couldn't find proper explanaitions. What does "as" mean far above two sentences?

(Not a teacher)
That's what we call the "inversion structure" in concessionary adverbial clauses. (SVC*=>CSV)

As/Although they(S) were(V) happy(C), there was something missing.=>Happy(C) as they(S) were(V), there was something missing.
As/Although Tom is poor, he is honest and diligent. => Poor as Tom is, he is honest and diligent.

*SVC=Subject-Verb-Complement

Note: Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (P68) has this, "as" also means "though".
"Improbable as it seems, it's true." "Tired as I was, I tried to help them." "As popular as he is (=even though he is popular), the President has not been able to get his own way on every issue."

Hope that helps.

 

[TheParser]

"Poor as Tom is, he is honest and diligent."

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Jungjou:

May I add my two cents to the excellent answer that you have already received?

(1) Here is a sentence that may interest you:

"Sick as he is, he will go with you."

(2) One of my favorite books (Descriptive English Grammar by Homer C. House and Susan Emolyn Harman)

says that the sentence is a short way to say:

"Though he be as sick as he is, he will want to go with you."

(a) The book explains that "though he be as sick as he is" is a clause of concession. That is, when you use the

word "although" or "though."

(b) I guess that in everyday English, we would simply say, "Although he is sick, he will want to go with you."


*****

(3) Thus, maybe we can analyze your sentence as:

["Though he be as] poor as Tom is, he is honest and diligent."


HAVE A NICE DAY.

 

[eggcracker]

Thank you all! \(#^0^#)/ It really helped me alot!