Etymologically
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passage

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French passage (“mountain pass, passage”),[2][3][4] from passer (“to go by”) (see pass) and -age,[2][5] from Vulgar Latin *passare, from Latin passus (“step, pace”),[3][2][6] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pete- (“to spread”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A road or pathway: probably about 1225, in King Horn;[2] the early 13th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

The act or means of passing or crossing is from about 1300,[2][3] and the passing from one state to another, as from life to death, from about 1430.[7] A corridor in a building is first recorded in Thomas Coryat's Crudities (1611), the 1610s in Etymonline.[2][3] A portion of writing, originally one about a particular matter, is from the 1610s,[3] and a section of music from the 1670s.[3] Bird of passage is from 1673.[7] The passing of a law by a legislature is a later sense.[8][9] Passageway is American from 1649.[2] In Devon dialect a passage was a ferry.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – a road.[2]
  • c. 1300 – a crossing.[2][3]
  • 1611 – a corridor.[2]
  • 1610s – a passage of writing.[3]
  • 1670s – a passage of music.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A narrow way, such as a corridor, allowing access from one place to another.
  2. A section of a written work, speech or piece of music.
  3. The act of passing; transit or movement; the passing of time.
  4. A journey, especially by sea; the right or fare to travel.
  5. The passing of a bill into law.
  6. A duct or channel in the body: nasal passages.

Word family

  • passagework
  • passageway
  • bird of passage
  • deck passage
  • middle passage
  • Northeast Passage
  • Northwest Passage
  • passage grave

Usage notes

A separate word passage, in dressage a slow cadenced trot, is from French passager, from Italian passeggiare, to walk (early 18th century).[6][11][8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press