passen

Forms

passen (third-person singular present passt, past tense passte, past participle gepasst, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German passen (“to reach one's goal”), borrowed from Middle Dutch passen, borrowed from Old French passer (“to go from one place to another, cross, pass”): the verb reached the Lower Rhine through Dutch in the 13th century, where Middle High German also had the prefixed gepassen.^[2][3][4][5] The French verb comes from Vulgar Latin *passō, from Latin passus (“step, pace”), and is also the source of passieren.^[1][3][2] The same borrowing is Dutch passen, Swedish passa and Norwegian passe.^[2]

From “to reach” Kluge derives the German sense “to sit well, be fitting”, while a second line of meaning, “to turn one's attention to”, already found in Middle Low German and Middle Dutch, leads to aufpassen and verpassen “to miss”.^[2] The sense “to let a turn go by” in card games is late, from the 17th century.^[2][3] In football the verb “to pass the ball” is a 20th-century borrowing of English pass.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lexer and Köbler record Middle High German passen and gepassen “to reach one's goal” in the Karlmeinet, a Lower Rhenish compilation of about 1320–1340.^[7][5] Pfeifer cites Lower Rhenish passen “to arrive, reach the goal” and, in 1477, “to coincide, agree, be fitting”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to pay attention” appears in the 15th century, the transitive “to make fit, fit in exactly” at the end of the 16th, and “to be suitable, fit in size” in the 17th.^[3] Paul dates das Kleid passt mir “the dress fits me” to about 1700 and notes reflexive uses such as das passt sich nicht “that is not proper”, found in Lessing and Goethe.^[8] The older auf etwas passen “to watch for something” of the 16th century gave aufpassen in the 17th, and the sense of watching led on to “to wait”, as in Goethe's ich paßte schon an der Treppe “I was already waiting on the stairs”.^[3][8]

At dice and cards passen meant from the 17th century to let a turn go by without playing;^[3][9] Stieler records er passet “he does not dare the throw”.^[3][9] From this came “to wait and see” in the 17th century and “to give up, not keep up” at the end of the 18th.^[3] Hungarian borrowed the verb as Hungarian passzol, recorded in 1605, and took passz “pass of the ball” in 1848.^[10]

Timeline

• 13th century – (ge)passen “to reach” appears on the Lower Rhine.^[2]
• c. 1320–1340 – passen is recorded in the Karlmeinet.^[5]
• 15th century – First record of the sense “to pay attention”.^[3]
• 1477 – First record of the sense “to agree, be fitting”.^[3]
• Late 16th century – The transitive sense “to make fit” appears.^[3]
• 1605 – Hungarian passzol is recorded.^[10]
• 17th century – The senses “to be suitable” and “to pass” at dice and cards; first record of aufpassen and verpassen.^[3]
• Late 18th century – First record of the sense “to give up”.^[3]
• 20th century – The football sense “to pass the ball” is borrowed from English.^[6][1]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of clothing, to fit someone in size and cut: Die Jacke passt mir wie angegossen.^[6][1]
2. To suit, go well with, be right for someone or something: Der Schal passt gut zu deinem Mantel. Die beiden passen gut zueinander.^[6][1]
3. To have the right size or shape to go into or onto something: Der Schrank passt nicht durch die Tür.^[6]
4. To be convenient or agreeable to someone: Passt dir Freitag um zehn? Sein Ton passt mir nicht.^[6][1]
5. (reflexive, colloquial) To be proper: Das passt sich nicht.^[6]
6. To match a description: Die Beschreibung passt auf den Verdächtigen.^[6][1]
7. (regional) To watch out; to wait eagerly for someone or something.^[6]
8. (card games, especially skat) To pass, to stop bidding.^[6][1]
9. (colloquial) To have to give up, not know the answer: Bei dieser Frage muss ich passen.^[6]
10. (ball games) To pass the ball to a teammate: Er passte den Ball nach links.^[6][1]

Word family

• anpassen
• aufpassen
• verpassen
• abpassen
• zusammenpassen
• unpässlich
• passabel

Related words

• passieren
• Pass
• French passer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 687
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 620
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 211
8. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1484
10. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de