Etymologically
Log in

passieren

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /paˈsiːʁən/[1]

Forms

passieren (third-person singular present passiert, past tense passierte, past participle passiert, auxiliary haben or sein)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French passer (“to pass, go through”), borrowed in the early 16th century.[2][3][4] The French verb continues Vulgar Latin *passō (“to step, pass through”), from Latin passus (“step”), from pandō (“to spread out”), a causative of pateō (“to be open”).[2][3] Pfeifer thinks the word probably came through Middle Dutch passēren (“to cross, pass by”), since a Lower Rhine form meaning “to travel” is recorded in 1477.[3] An isolated earlier record in Oswald von Wolkenstein, meaning “to be over”, rests on Italian passare.[3][4][5] The sense “to happen” follows the reflexive se passer.[2][3][4]

The same French verb had already given passen.[3][4] The English cognate is pass.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 16th century passieren meant “to go by, pass through, cross”, especially in military language, at passport and customs posts, and of river crossings.[4][3] The Zimmern Chronicle uses it of the Wild Hunt that “passed” at Veringen.[6] Rollenhagen's Froschmeuseler (1595) has Ein reiner mund und reine Hand Passieret frei durch alle land (“a clean mouth and a clean hand pass freely through every land”).[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the verb also meant “to be tolerable, pass muster”, a sense now out of use;[3][4][7] Adelung, around 1800, still records das kann passieren “that is acceptable” and das lasse ich passieren “I accept that”.[3][4][7] The sense “to happen, take place” arose in the 17th century after French se passer, and since the 19th century it is used especially of mishaps and accidents.[4][8] In the second half of the 19th century cooks began to use it for pressing food through a sieve.[3][8]

Hungarian borrowed the verb as passzíroz “to happen” (1787), Czech as pasírovat “to strain”, and Slovene as pasirati.[9]

Timeline

  • 1477 – A Lower Rhine form passeren “to travel” is recorded.[3]
  • Early 16th century – passieren is borrowed from French in the sense “to pass, go through”.[4][3]
  • 1558 – An early quotation in Thym.[4]
  • 1595 – Rollenhagen's Froschmeuseler uses the verb.[4]
  • 17th century – The sense “to happen” appears.[4][3]
  • 1787 – Hungarian passzíroz is recorded.[9]
  • Second half of the 19th century – The cooking sense “to strain through a sieve” appears.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (auxiliary haben) To cross a border or barrier, to get through a check: Der Lastwagen passierte die Grenze bei Basel.[10][1]
  2. (auxiliary haben) To go through, over or past something: Wir passierten einen langen Tunnel.[10]
  3. (auxiliary sein) To happen, occur: An der Kreuzung ist ein Unfall passiert.[10][1]
  4. (auxiliary sein) To happen to someone, befall them: Ihm ist zum Glück nichts passiert.[10][11]
  5. (cooking, auxiliary haben) To strain, press through a sieve: Die gekochten Tomaten werden passiert.[10][1]

Word family

  • passierbar
  • Passierschein
  • Pass
  • Passage
  • Passant
  • passen
  • Passagier
  • passabel
  • passé

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
  5. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities
  6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1487
  7. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  8. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 613
  9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag