Is the word, "problem," new to non-English languages?

Question

I've been listening to radio broadcasts lately where a person will be speaking German or Pashtun or Russian or whatever and a translator will be supplying an English rendition, in a format which makes it possible to hear both the original and the translation.

I noticed that in almost every case, where the interpreter says something like, "The problem is," or, "the difficulty is," the speaker in the (to me) foreign language will also say the word, "problem," identical to English and in the correct place, but merely accented in that language.

And it got me to wondering: Is "problem" a modern word or a very old indo-european word? What is its etymology and history? Does it represent a concept which was foreign to non-European cultures before the modern era, or is the speaker making word choices to accommodate an interpreter?

Answer 1

If you assume the word "problem" comes from English, you have an incorrect starting point.

"Problem" (note: in English) comes from late Middle English <- Old French probleme <- via Latin from Greek πρόβλημα (problēma); the word comes from proballein ‘put forth,’ which is pro ‘before’ + ballein ‘to throw.’ ¹

I'd say that shows that the spread didn't come from English at all. Rather, it started from Greek, took by Latin and from there to the Romances languages (and from there English). I'm not sure where Russian took it from, but considering the Russian alphabet is based on the Greek one, I don't think it would be absurd to assume that it might have come from there, although this last sentence is speculation and as such it should be considered.

So the words are not merely "accented", they actually exist in those languages:

• French, problème
• Italian, problema
• Russian, проблема
• Spanish, problema

Also, I don't think this word represents a "new concept". If you say that it's meaning or that the way it's interpreted has changed over time, then yes, that would be reasonable.

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^{1: Taken from the New Oxford American Dictionary}