Everyday LifeGreek → English
Problem
/ˈprɑbləm/noun
A difficulty that has to be dealt with, or a question set to be solved.
The Greek roots
πρό
pró
forward, in front
βάλλειν
bállein
to throw
Literally: “a thing thrown in front”
The story of the word
πρόβλημα covered anything put in your way: a headland jutting into the sea, a shield held up, a task set to a student. The obstacle sense and the exercise sense were the same word to a Greek, which is a fairer description of homework than English usually manages. The verb βάλλειν throws its way through a surprising amount of the language, giving symbol, emblem, parable, hyperbole and, by way of a slanderer who throws accusations across, devil.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
symbolemblemparablehyperboleballistic
In a sentence
The problem is not the engine, it is that nobody wants to pay for a new one.