difficultas Latin · revision 7966
16 Oct 2026, 14:48 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)”
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la faciō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [dɪf.fɪˈkʊɫ.taːs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [dif.fiˈkul.tas]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''difficultās''' ''f'' (genitive difficultātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[difficilis]] “difficult” with the suffix [[-tās]], with ⟨u⟩ before a dark ⟨l⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) An inscription has ⟨difficilitās⟩, and Livy and Gellius have the genitive plural ⟨difficultātium⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a troublesome situation.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Cicero it meant of persons intractability, refractoriness.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant obstinacy, difficulty.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''difficoltà'' and French ''difficulté'', and Anglo-French ''difficulté'' gave [[en|difficulty]] in the late 14th century, from which [[en|difficult]] was back-formed.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of trouble.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the difficulties of speaking.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has the genitive plural ''difficultātium''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – English ''difficulty'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # [[m|en|Difficulty]], trouble; want.^(OLD 2012)
+ # [[m|en|Intractability]].^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[difficilis]]
+ * [[facilis]]
+ * [[en|difficulty]]
+ * [[en|difficult]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}