Today, the word "adversity", the meaning of which can be defined as "misfortune, trouble or failure", is somewhat outdated. Most often this noun is used in poems and, as a rule, in the plural. For example, in congratulatory lines for a birthday: “Let the years fly like birds, let all hardships pass you by.”
Parse words by composition
According to the modern rules of the Russian language, this feminine noun can only be divided into two parts - the root and the ending "-a". It is likely that earlier the root of the word was “-year-” and it was formed by adding two prefixes: a negative “not-” and an upward movement “up-”.
Let's consider the meaning of the word "adversity" on the example of the synonymous verbs "grow up" and "nurture". If in the first case we can only talk about a specific action applicable to some object (grow a garden, a tree, a child), then in the second, due to the prefix “vz-”the verb takes on a more elevated meaning. For example: “cultivate a talent, a dream.”
The same thing happens with the word "benefit" that exists in some dialects. If “to please” means to render someone a pleasant service, then “to please” probably meant the superlative degree of this action - “to make happy”. Therefore, the meaning of the word "adversity" due to the negative prefix takes on the opposite meaning and is synonymous with the noun "unhappiness".
Possible origins of the word
Let's call on the help of the verbs "grow" and "nurture" again. We get another synonymous pair of "benefit" and "benefit". The second noun, having a similar meaning to the first, could mean a very large, colossal profit. Now it is easy to understand the meaning of the word "adversity", it is an incredible loss, a very painful loss.
As you know, the well-being of ancient people living by subsistence farming largely depended on the fruits of agriculture. A crop failure threatened to turn into numerous troubles and misfortunes. Suppose that the word "adversity", the meaning, interpretation and meaning of which we are trying to understand, has the same root as in the verb "good" - "wait".
In the spring, a man plowed the land, sowed rye or wheat. In autumn, he hopes to gather grain, grind flour, so that he has something to feed his family in winter. And suddenly, due to drought or some other weather conditions, the entire crop dies. Thus, adversity is unfulfilled expectations that led to hunger, disease, suffering.
Also, one cannot exclude the version that the word "adversity" meant a long bad weather, natural disasters. This did not bode well for the farmers either.
