Q: In an old account of a Scottish broadsword match, the use of “difficult” as a verb was found to be unusual: “both gentlemen displayed such equality of proficiency, that the Judges were difficulted to decide betwixt them.”
A: This report on the broadsword match in Edinburgh on Dec. 5, 1828 was published by The Sun, a now-defunct evening newspaper in London.
Interestingly, the verb “difficult” first appeared in the mid-15th century and is still occasionally used, though it is now considered rare or obsolete.
The origin of this usage can be traced back to three sources: the adjective “difficult,” the Middle French verb difficulter (to make difficult), and the post-classical Latin difficultare (to make difficult or obstruct), according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
When the verb first emerged in late Middle English, it meant “to obscure the sense of; to make difficult to understand,” a definition that is now obsolete, as stated by the OED. The present participle “difficultyng” was used in the earliest citation:
“Such teaching is a forged, fiendish, and vain cleverness, difficulting, hardening and darkening God’s law.” From The Donet, a religious treatise written around 1445 by Reginald Pecock, Bishop of Chichester.
In the early 17th century, the verb “difficult” took on the meaning of “to make (an action or process) difficult; to hinder, impede,” a usage that is now considered “rare” by the OED.
The dictionary’s earliest example is from a letter written on Dec. 29, 1608, where Sir Charles Cornwallis, the British ambassador in Spain, expressed his frustration about his lack of access in Madrid compared to the Spanish ambassador’s openness in London:
“Your Lordships will not hold so great an inequality sufferable; that the King’s Ambassador there should not only have a free Correspondence with his Master’s Subjects, but a continual Resort and Conference with those of his Majesty; then to me here, that one should be restrained and the other difficulted.”
By the mid-17th century, the verb came to mean “to cause problems or difficulties for (a person, organization, etc.); to hamper, obstruct; (also) to perplex. Usually in passive voice.” The OED notes that this usage was commonly seen in Scottish English but is now considered “rare.”
The earliest citation in the dictionary is from An History of the Civill Warres of England, Betweene the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke (1641), a translation by Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, of a work by the Italian historian Giovanni Francesco Biondi:
“Being thus difficulted [Italian in tai difficultà], the defendants demanded a truce until Saint John Baptists-day.”
Two 21st-century examples of this usage are cited by the OED:
“The appearance of the optic disc varies widely among healthy individuals, difficulting the recognition of pathological changes.” From The Optic Nerve in Glaucoma (2006), by Remo Susanna Jr. and Felipe A. Medeiros. (We’ve expanded the citation.)
“It difficulted me greatly that I could think of no way to get Theo into the house.” From Florence and Giles (2010), a Gothic tale by the British novelist John Harding.
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