obscurity (n.)
15世纪晚期， obscurite，“没有光，缺乏亮度或光泽的状态”； 1610年代，意为“未知或不显眼的状态”； 来自 obscure（形容词）+ -ity； 或者来自古法语 obscurete，是 oscureté 的变体，“黑暗，阴暗； 模糊，混乱； 无足轻重”（14世纪），直接源自拉丁语 obscuritatem（主格 obscuritas），“黑暗，模糊，不确定性”，来自 obscurus。指“不清楚理解的质量或状态”始于15世纪晚期（卡克斯顿）。
When I was asked to talk about the Obscurity of the Modern Poet I was delighted, for I have suffered from this obscurity all my life. But then I realized that I was being asked to talk not about the fact that people don't read poetry, but about the fact that most of them wouldn't understand it if they did .... [Randall Jarrell, "The Obscurity of Poetry," 1953]
当我被要求谈论现代诗人的晦涩时，我感到很高兴，因为我一生都受到这种晦涩的困扰。但后来我意识到，我被要求谈论的不是人们不读诗的事实，而是如果他们读了，大多数人都不会理解它.... [兰德尔·贾勒尔，“诗歌的晦涩”，1953年]
最早记录年份: late 15c.