The Latin word obex , which can be translated as "obstacle" , came into Spanish as óbice . This is what an obstacle or difficulty is called.
For example: “Physical problems have not been an obstacle for the Swiss tennis player, who beat his rival comfortably and qualified for the semifinals of the tournament,” “The high prices of hotels and other accommodation options are an obstacle.” when choosing certain tourist destinations” , “Next month there will be a change of authorities in the club but that will not be an obstacle to the continuity of the works underway” .
An obstacle is an obstacle , a limitation or a gap . Suppose a young man who does not speak English is on vacation in the United States . On a walk through a city, the boy gets lost, so he must communicate with other people to try to find his way. The lack of command of the language , in this framework, represents an obstacle: the tourist has difficulties in transmitting what is happening to him and in understanding what others tell him.
Take the case of a footballer who, in a domestic accident, suffers a blow to his leg . In the following days, the athlete feels some pain but studies are carried out and he does not have any serious injuries . That is why his club's doctors affirm that the trauma he suffered does not prevent him from playing the team's next game.
Summarizing everything expressed so far, we can go on to draw up a short list of synonyms for the term obstacle , with some that are much more common in everyday speech: hindrance, obstacle , inconvenience, hindrance, difficulty and impediment . The majority of Spanish speakers are unaware of its meaning or avoid its use on a daily basis, considering it cultism , although not everyone agrees with this statement.
Cultism is called any word that maintains a very close relationship at a morphological level with its Latin or Greek etymological origin, without paying attention to the evolution of Spanish and the changes that it has brought about since its birth in Vulgar Latin. Cultisms are reintroduced into the language for different reasons, such as scientific or literary needs, but they do not completely adapt to current conventions : they simply adjust slightly to the aspects of phonology and spelling, but They ignore the transformations of morphemes and roots throughout history.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the origin of the word obex is found in obex , which in addition to meaning "obstacle", meaning from which our Spanish version derives, can also refer to two other concepts: " padlock " or "bolt". It is not necessary to make a great effort to notice that the three meanings have a nuance of "impediment", of a point beyond which it is not possible to pass, or at least not easily. Padlocks and bolts can be unlocked, just as obstacles can be overcome or avoided, but they require an effort of varying difficulty and in all cases they represent a situation opposite to the "free path."
Continuing with the etymology, we can say that it derives from the accusative obicem , the case that is used to give the idea of a direct object when combined with a transitive verb. Since it has only lost its final letter, which in Latin reveals that it was an accusative, many scholars affirm that we are dealing with cultism. The least apparent change when reading this word is its pronunciation, particularly of the C , although at least it retains the accentuation: it is still esdrújula.
Finally, it is important not to confuse obstacle with death : this is what the death of an individual is called.