Aporime

An aporime is a problem difficult to resolve, and which has never been resolved, though it may not be, in itself, impossible.

The word is derived from the Greek "polytonic|ἄπορον", which signifies something very difficult and impracticable, being formed from the privative "α", and "polytonic|πόρος", "passage". When a question was proposed to any of the ancient Greek philosophers, especially of the sect of Academists, if he could not give a solution, his answer was "polytonic|ἀποροῶ", q.d. "I do not conceive it; I cannot see through it; I am not able to clear it up."

References

*1728 [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900240158&isize=L]