On: Writing English as a Second Language (2009)

[Koshkin]

"Problem" is from Greek, to be exact (as are many, many other words - "system", "grammar", "physics", "geology", etc.).

[18nleung → Koshkin]

Yes - when I was learning Spanish I was told that the exceptions to the la -a rule (i.e. words that end with "a" usually are feminine) are from Greek. For example, "el problema", "el sistema"