dificultad

Forms

dificultad f (plural dificultades)^[1] Juan Fernández de Heredia's Aragonese writes difficultat and dificultat.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin difficultās (“difficulty”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] The noun is formed from Latin difficilis + -tās; difficilis (“difficult”) is the opposite of facilis (“easy”), which comes from faciō (“to do, make”).^[1][6][7] The DCECH and the BDELC treat it with difícil in the family of hacer.^[4][5]

The same Latin word was borrowed as French difficulté, Catalan dificultat, Italian difficoltà and English difficulty; Portuguese dificuldade is semi-learned, according to Nascentes.^[1][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest reliable hit is the translation of Jacques de Vitry's Historia de Jerusalem abreviada (after 1350): a city taken con mucho trabajo & dificultad “with much labour and difficulty”.^[2] The CDH dates a hit in the Crónica de Sahagún to about 1255, but its Castilian text survives only in later copies.^[2] The DCECH and the BDELC date the word only from Nebrija.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the late 14th century Juan Fernández de Heredia used the Aragonese difficultat in phrases such as con grant difficultat “with great difficulty”, and DEMel has the word in López de Ayala's Rimado de palacio (about 1385).^[2][10] Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary gives it as difficultas.^[11] Cervantes uses it for obstacles and for the hardships of war.^[12]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as the hindrance or opposition that makes things difficult, quoting Fray Luis de León and Cervantes.^[13] The 1884 edition adds the sense “objection, argument raised against an opinion” and several phrases.^[14] In the Dominican Republic it also means a quarrel or disagreement, and in the Canaries a fault or failing.^[15][16][17]

Timeline

• after 1350 – the translation of the Historia de Jerusalem abreviada, the CDH's earliest reliable hit.^[2]
• 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia uses the Aragonese form difficultat.^[2]
• c. 1385 – López de Ayala's Rimado de palacio.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives it as difficultas, the DCECH's and the BDELC's first record.^[11][4][5]
• 1605 – first record in the Americas, in Buenos Aires.^[18]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “objection to an opinion”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. difficulty: the quality of being difficult (difícil).^[1][19]
2. An obstacle, drawback or opposition that prevents something from being done, achieved or understood well and quickly: Llegaron a la cima sin ninguna dificultad.^[3][1]
3. (often plural) A hard situation; hardship, trouble.^[1][19]
4. A doubt or argument raised against an opinion; an objection.^[3]
5. (Dominican Republic) A quarrel, disagreement.^[15][16]

Related words

• difícil
• dificultar
• dificultoso
• facilidad
• Latin difficultās

Usage notes

The DLE keeps the phrases apretar la dificultad “press the argument” and estar en la dificultad or sobre la dificultad “have grasped the problem”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. dificultad
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. dificultad
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 299
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hacer
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 231
7. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. dificultad
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. dificultat
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. dificuldade
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. dificultad
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 336
12. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. s.v. dificultad
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. dificultad
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 385
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. dificultad
16. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. dificultad
17. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. dificultad
18. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. dificultad
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dificultad