Etymologically
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difficultas

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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]

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