pasión

Forms

pasión f (plural pasiones)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish passion, borrowed from Latin passiō (“suffering”).^[2][3][4][1] The DLE calls the Latin word a calque of Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “experience; suffering; emotion”).^[4] The Latin noun is formed from patior (“to suffer, undergo”) with the suffix -tiō.^[5][1][6] Its sense “emotion” is a semantic loan from the Greek word, and Christian Latin used it for the sufferings of Christ.^[1][7][8] De Vaan finds the further origin of the verb unclear.^[9]

The popular verb from the same Latin root is padecer, from Old Spanish padir.^[2] The same Latin noun was borrowed as French passion and Italian passione, while Portuguese paixão and Galician paixón show popular sound changes.^[10][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Liber regum (c. 1194–1211, in a copy of the first quarter of the 13th century), which dates an event 43 years after la passion de Ihesu Crist.^[12] Corominas's first record is in Berceo.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word meant first the Passion of Christ, as in Alfonso X's Estoria de España, and also illness or pain.^[13] Nebrija used it for affections of the soul and for colic.^[14] Early texts from the Americas use it for an illness, for partiality and for self-interest.^[15] Corominas notes that until the Golden Age apasionado meant mainly “afflicted by an illness”, while enamorado served for the modern sense.^[2]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary listed the acts of suffering, the Passion of Christ, the opposite of action, any disturbance of the mind, an excessive preference for a person and a vehement liking for something.^[16] The medical sense, pain in a part of the body, is now obsolete.^[17][18] In Mexico ¿qué pasión? is a greeting between close friends.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1194–1211 – the Liber regum speaks of the Passion of Christ.^[12]
• c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca uses it for the death and suffering of Christ.^[12]
• 1220–1250 – first record according to the BDELC;^[3][2] Corominas cites Berceo.^[3][2]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España names the Passion among the events of Christ's life.^[13]
• 1444 – the derivative apasionado is first recorded.^[3]
• 1528 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, for a pain in the side.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary lists the emotional senses beside the religious ones.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. suffering; the act of undergoing.^[4]
2. The Passion of Christ, often with a capital.^[4][1]
3. (philosophy) The opposite of action; a passive state in the subject.^[4][1]
4. A strong, disordered emotion of the mind.^[4][17]
5. An intense love or preference for a person: Siente pasión por su hija.^[4][17]
6. A strong liking or enthusiasm for something: su pasión por el ajedrez.^[4]
7. A sermon on the sufferings and death of Christ, preached on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.^[4]
8. The part of each of the four Gospels that tells the Passion of Christ.^[4]

Word family

• apasionado
• apasionar
• pasional
• pasionaria
• apasionamiento

Related words

• compasión
• padecer
• paciente
• pasivo
• Latin passiō

Usage notes

Pasión de ánimo means sadness or dejection.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 334
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. padecer
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. pasión
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. pasión
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. passion
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. paixão
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pasión
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. pasión
14. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. pasión
15. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. pasión
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 797
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pasión
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1273
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. pasión