Leidenschaft (German)

Where does "Leidenschaft" come from?

The German noun 'Leidenschaft', meaning passion, was formed in the 17th century by combining 'Leiden' ('suffering') with the suffix '-schaft'[1]. This compound was coined as a loan translation, or calque, of the Latin noun 'passio'[1], which itself derived from the verb 'patior' ('to suffer')[3][4] and had developed the meaning of strong emotion as a semantic loan from Ancient Greek 'páthos'[3]. The base verb 'leiden' originated from Old High German 'līdan' ('to go, travel')[7], but its meaning shifted over time through 'endure' to 'suffer', influenced by the related noun 'Leid' ('sorrow')[7].

Open questions

The ultimate Proto-Indo-European source of Latin 'patior' is disputed, with proposals deriving it either from a root meaning to hurt or from an alternative root meaning to fly or fall. [4]
The root behind Ancient Greek 'páthos' and 'páskhō' is traditionally reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European '*kʷendʰ-', but this reconstruction has phonetic irregularities and is contested by an alternative derivation from '*bʰendʰ-'. [8]

Full etymology tree

Leidenschaft (German), 'passion (powerful emotion)'
- affix Leiden (German), 'suffering, pain, grief'
  - deverbal leiden (German), 'to like, tolerate'
    - inherited liden (Middle High German), 'to suffer'
      - influenced by leiden (Middle High German)
      - influenced by Leid (Middle High German)
      - inherited lidan (Old High German), 'to suffer'
        inherited *līþan (Proto-West Germanic), 'to go, to pass'
        inherited *līþaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to go; pass'
- suffix -schaft (German), '-ship, -hood'
- calque passio (Latin), 'suffering; enduring'

Ancestors

Leiden (German)
passio (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

lijdenschap (Dutch)

Descendants and derived words

leidenschaftlich (German)
leidenschaftlich (German)
leidenschaftslos (German)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris