vexata quaestio

plural vexatae quaestiones · alternative quaestio vexata · alternative vexata quæstio

1. A vexed, unresolved, or intractable question.

   It may actually boil down to the vexata quaestio of how different must language varieties become in order to be considered independent.

   1991, Carmen Pensado, “How was Leonese Vulgar Latin Read?”, in Roger Wright, editor, Latin and the Roman Languages in the Middle Ages, page 190

   2 more examples

   On entering upon this question, he states it to be one of great difficulty—a vexata quaestio as it were, and one which had at all times much divided, and at the time he wrote, still continued to divide the opinions of great jurists.

   1819, Hansard, column 1275

   European intervention in the social sphere—and annexed questions such as why, to what extent and in what way—has long been a vexata quaestio.

   2010, Samantha Velluti, New Governance and the European Employment Strategy