What does "riesce malagevole" mean?

Question

I am studying for the Italian driving test and doing my best to learn new vocabulary as I go along. But I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what "riesce malagevole" means because I'm having trouble finding it used in other contexts. First, here it is in the driving exam question context:

E' obbligatorio ridurre la velocità e all'occorrenza fermarsi quando riesce malagevole l'incrocio con altri veicoli

My best guess is that this means you are obliged to reduce your speed and even stop when there is an intersection that is difficult to manage involving other cars. But that's a pretty awkward translation.

And here is another place that I found it used, which is just completely beyond me:

L’imperatrice Eusebia, donna d’illustre prosapia, di splendente bellezza, di castità singolare, di colto ingegno, ed elegante, prese ad amarlo con tenera costante affezione, la quale se in appresso da quella sua pura sorgente traviasse, riesce malagevole alla storia di affermare egualmente che di negare.

Answer 1

Your translation of the first sentence (about the driving exam) is correct.

First, the verb "riuscire" is used to mean "risultare" , "presentarsi" (to appear, to be, to turn out), I take this definition from Treccani Vocabulary

5. Con un agg. in funzione di compl. predicativo, essere, apparire, risultare

With an adjective as a predicative complement, to be, to appear, to prove to be

Second, about "malagevole" - From the Treccani Vocabulary, too:

malagévole agg. [comp. di mal- e agevole]. – 1. Non agevole, non facile; che presenta ostacoli superabili con fatica:

malagévole adj. [composed by. mal- and agevole] - 1. Not manageable, not easy; that presents obstacles hardly surmountable.

A translation similar to yours could be:

It is mandatory to reduce the speed and even stop when the intersection between vehicles is proved to be difficult to be managed.

The second sentence is a lot more difficult to be translated because of the pompous and obsolete language; I will try with:

The Empress Eusebia, a woman of illustrious lineage, of shining beauty, of singular chastity, of cultured intelligence, and elegant, she started to love him with tender constant affection which, if it would have been misled from that pure source, it is difficult to history to affirm as well as to deny.

Basically, the Epress Eusebia (described as a noble, beautiful, pure and intelligent woman) started to become affectionate to a man and if her feelings later had become less pure (misled from the original chaste source), it is very hard to confirm or to negate.

Answer 2

The sentence is part of the questions for the driving license exam. It has been written by somebody who likes bureaucratic language and the purpose is to puzzle the examinees first about the meaning of the question.

It is question 21003. There is no intersection involved. The situation to imagine is when the road is narrow and two vehicles meet, coming from opposite directions. By the way, the answer is “true”.

The word malagevole is a bureaucratism for difficult. The prefix mal is actually male and there are several adjectives so composed: malcompreso, malfatto and others. However just a few of them are used in common spoken language and malagevole is not among them. The prefix mal is also used in French and Zamenhof used it for making opposites in Esperanto; which is bad, in my opinion, because both in Italian and in French the prefix mostly has a negative connotation: la fille malgardée is not a child that has not been taken care of, but that has been looked after in a bad way.

However malagevole and disagevole are essentially synonymous and both mean uneasy.

Riuscire and adjective means something like to result. A smooth translation into Italian would be

È obbligatorio rallentare e, se necessario, fermarsi quando l'incrocio con altri veicoli è difficile.

In English

It is mandatory to slow down and, if necessary, to stop when it is difficult to pass by other vehicles.

Answer 3

Malagevole combines MAL + AGEVOLE

AGEVOLE comes from AGIO (=ease, comfort)

AGEVOLE (adj.) then means something that can be done easily, with ease, comfortably

MAL+AGEVOLE means that something can NOT be done easily, comfortably