Latest comment: 2 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
@LittleWhole, I just reverted your etymology addition. I can't find any source backing up your claim that this is related to OJP subsidiary verb かつ(katsu, “to be able to do [PRECEDING VERB]”), and the semantics don't make a lot of sense either (katsu "to be able to do" → katai "to be difficult to do").
@Eirikr: Seems to be an early morning partial misreading by me solely on the etymology of 難て(kate) being from かつ(katsu); it seems かたい(katai) is of separate derivation from 難て(kate) but was somehow later confused together and reanalyzed as related. The initial form 難てに(kateni) was confused with the stem of 難し(katashi), causing the に(ni) to be reanalyzed as non-essential case particle instead of negative.