Etymologically
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passage

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 08:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pa.saʒ/[1]
  • IPA: /pɑ.saʒ/[1]

Forms

passage m (plural passages)[1]

Etymology

It is from French passer + -age.[2][3][4][1] passer continues popular Latin Vulgar Latin *passō, derived from passus (“step, pace”) (see pas).[4][5]

Compare Old Occitan passatge, Spanish pasaje, Portuguese passagem and Italian passaggio.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it is a pass through the mountains: Sel puis trover à port ne à passage.[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

About 1165 it named a sea crossing, prendre passage “to embark”, and the passage to the Holy Land, Villehardouin speaks of pilgrims who could not pay their passage.[2][6] Chrétien de Troyes uses it for a part of a text (1176).[2] The act of passing, of an army, of migrating birds, and the place where one passes, a way through, followed; a covered arcade of shops in Paris is a passage.[6][8][7] De passage “passing through, temporary” is in Rousseau (about 1770).[9] Passage protégé and passage clouté belong to the highway code, and in astronomy a passage is the transit of a planet.[7][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – A mountain pass, Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1165 – A sea crossing, Roman de Troie.[2]
  • 1176 – A part of a text, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • c. 1330 – Passager.[4]
  • 1492 – A difficult passage in mountain climbing.[9]
  • 1769 – Prostituée de passage.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Passing, the act of going through or past: le passage des oiseaux, passage interdit, être de passage.[7][8][1]
  2. A crossing, a journey: le passage de la Manche, payer son passage.[7][2]
  3. A way through, a passageway; a covered arcade: laisser le passage, passage souterrain, passage clouté, a pedestrian crossing.[7][1]
  4. A change from one state to another: le passage à l'euro, passage dans la classe supérieure.[1]
  5. A passage of a text or a piece of music.[2][1]
  6. (astronomy) A transit.[1]

Word family

  • passager
  • passagèrement

Usage notes

A separate noun passage (1611, passège, 1625), borrowed from Italian passeggio, names in horsemanship a short, highly cadenced trot.[3][10][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse