passioun

Middle English

Alternative forms

• pascioun, passion, passione, passioune, passiun, passyon, passyoun, passyun

Etymology

From Old French passion, or in part from late Old English passio, passion (“Christ's passion”), from Latin passio (“suffering”), noun of action from perfect passive participle passus (“suffered”), from deponent verb pati (“suffer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpasiˈuːn/, /ˈpasjun/

Noun

passioun (plural passiouns)

1. passion, suffering (that which must be endured)
   • Þe uerþe article belongeþ to his passion. — Ayenbite of Inwyt, c1340
   • Hij þat hated þe gloried hem in-myddes of þy passion. — Midland Prose Psalter, c1350
   • He that felyth payne and passion Desyrith sore aftir alleggeaunce. — Life of Our Lady, c1450
   • Þer was ane vsurar þat lay in passions of dead. — Alphabet of Tales, c1450
   • c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume IV, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, Romans 8:18, page 172, column 1:

     Trewli I deme, that the passions of this tyme ben not euene worthi to the glorie to comynge, that schal be schewid in vs.

     Truly I deem, that the passions of this time are not even worthy to the glory to come, that shall be shown in us.
     [King James Version: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.]

2. The Passion (suffering of Jesus)
3. passion (intense emotion)
4. (philosophy) A sense (human faculty)
5. (rare) passiveness (state of being acted upon)
6. (rare) property, element

Related terms

• compassioun
• passional
• passionat

Descendants

• English: passion, Passion
• Scots: passion, patient

References

• “passiǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.