difficultas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [dɪf.fɪˈkʊɫ.taːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [dif.fiˈkul.tas]^[1]

Forms

difficultās f (genitive difficultātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from difficilis “difficult” with the suffix -tās, with ⟨u⟩ before a dark ⟨l⟩.^[2][1][3] An inscription has ⟨difficilitās⟩, and Livy and Gellius have the genitive plural ⟨difficultātium⟩.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a troublesome situation.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a situation of trouble, difficulty, hardship, as in Plautus, Cicero's difficultās dīcendī and Caesar, and with a genitive difficulty in obtaining something, want.^[2][6][4] In Cicero it meant of persons intractability, refractoriness.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant obstinacy, difficulty.^[7] It survives in Italian difficoltà and French difficulté, and Anglo-French difficulté gave English difficulty in the late 14th century, from which English difficult was back-formed.^[1][3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of trouble.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the difficulties of speaking.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has the genitive plural difficultātium.^[4][5]
• late 14th century – English difficulty is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Difficulty, trouble; want.^[2]
2. Intractability.^[2]

Related words

• difficilis
• facilis
• English difficulty
• English difficult

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson