Etymologically
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problema

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Pronunciation

  • /proˈblɛ.ma/[1]

Forms

problema m (plural problemi)[1] Old Italian also has the plural problemati and the form probema.[2][3] The word was formerly also feminine.[4][5]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin problēma (“problem, question”), from Ancient Greek πρόβλημα (próblēma, “something put forward; obstacle”), from προβάλλω (probállō, “to throw before, put forward”), formed from προ- (pro-, “before”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).[3][6][7][1] The Greek word was the title of a work of Aristotle in the plural.[5] The same Latin word gave French problème, recorded from the 14th century, and Spanish problema, and it spread through the European languages.[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the 14th-century Italian translation of Saint John Chrysostom and in Boccaccio, who uses the plural problemati in 1341–1342, in the sense of a question to which an answer is sought by reasoning from given premises.[3][7] GDLI quotes the Chrysostom translation for the Pharisees' trick question about divorce: li proponevano alcuni problemi “they put some problems to him”.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the 17th century, with Galileo, the word is a term of mathematics.[5] In 1875 Rigutini and Fanfani record it for a person whose thoughts and actions cannot be understood.[3]

At the end of the 1950s the meaning widened to any difficulty, especially in non c'è problema, modelled on French il n'y a pas de problèmes and English no problem.[3] Some have credited film dubbing with spreading the phrase, but Castellani Pollidori notes that it also spread into languages, such as Modern Greek, that have no such need, and Radtke sees the language of the young as the main source of its popularity.[3] DELI adds that problematica then took over part of the space of the worn problema.[3]

Timeline

  • 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses the plural problemati.[3][7]
  • 1652 – Problematico is first recorded.[3]
  • 1875 – Rigutini and Fanfani record the sense “person hard to understand”.[3]
  • 1950 – Problematica is first recorded.[3][6]
  • Late 1950s – Problema widens to any difficulty, and non c'è problema spreads.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (mathematics) A problem, a question to be solved by finding unknown quantities from given data: un problema di algebra.[7][8][9]
  2. An important and difficult question that admits different answers: un problema giuridico.[7][8]
  3. A difficult case or situation, a trouble or inconvenience: Trovare parcheggio in centro è un problema.[7][9][4]
  4. Non c'è problema “no problem”, said to reassure someone that something can be done.[7][4][8]
  5. (figurative) A person who is hard to understand or a cause of worry: Quel ragazzo è un problema.[7][4][10]

Word family

  • problematico
  • problematica
  • problematicità
  • problematizzare
  • problematicismo
  • sottoproblema
  • Latin problema
  • Ancient Greek πρόβλημα (próblēma)

Usage notes

Farsi un problema or farsi (dei) problemi means “to worry, to have scruples about something”.[7][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3087
  6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli