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molestia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word molestia

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*mel-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɔˈɫɛs.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [moˈlɛs.ti.a][1]

Forms

molestia f (genitive molestiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from molestus (“troublesome”) with the suffix -ia.[2][3][1] De Vaan, following Schrijver, derives ⟨molestus⟩ from an s-stem Proto-Italic *meles- (“trouble, obstacle”), Proto-Indo-European *mel-e/os-, related to mōlēs (“mass, effort”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author,[5] with “so that they know what trouble they cause to another's nose” in the Captivi.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is distress, discomfort, trouble or annoyance, as in Plautus, Terence and Cato, and a source of annoyance, a nuisance, as Plautus' “I have removed a great nuisance from the doors”.[2][6] The TLL finds the plural from Terence on.[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of skin complaints on the face.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “trouble, harm”, and in medieval Latin it is also an illness and a legal dispute.[7][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of trouble and of a nuisance.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence has the plural.[3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of facial complaints.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Trouble, annoyance, distress, discomfort; a nuisance.[2][6][1][7]
  2. A physical affliction;[2][8] (Medieval Latin) an illness.[2][8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A dispute.[8]

Word family

  • praemolestia

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts labor, toil that needs strength and causes weariness, with molestia, trouble that oppresses by its size or bad timing.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Molestia.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/molestia. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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