Etymology: Originally < classical Latin passiōn-, passiō (see below); subsequently reinforced by Anglo-Norman passioun, paissiun, Anglo-Norman and Old French passiun, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French pasion, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French passion, Middle French pascion suffering of a martyr (second half of the 10th cent.), sufferings of Jesus (end of the 10th cent.), narrative of the sufferings of Jesus (1119), physical suffering (beginning of the 12th cent.), strong emotion, love (beginning of the 13th cent.), fact of being acted upon (1370), enthusiasm, zeal (beginning of the 16th cent.), anger (1553), grammatical passivity (1555), violent love (1572 in plural, passions ), sense perception (late 16th cent.), person as an object of affection (1671), deep emotion expressed in a literary work (1674) and its etymon classical Latin passiōn-, passiō an affection of the mind, emotion, in post-classical Latin also the sufferings of Jesus (Vetus Latina), suffering, affliction (late 2nd cent. in Tertullian), the sufferings of a martyr, martyrdom (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian; frequently from 8th cent. in British sources), sense perception, one of the five senses (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), ailment, bodily affliction (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), account of martyrdom (4th cent.), grammatical passivity (4th cent.), quality, attribute (from 9th cent. (frequently from 13th cent.) in British sources), reading of the Passion (from 10th cent. in British sources), the condition of being acted upon (from 12th cent. in British sources) < pass- , past participial stem of patī to suffer (see patient adj. and n.) + -iō -ion suffix¹. In Latin chiefly a word of Christian theology, which was also its earliest use in French and English, being very frequent in the earliest Middle English. Compare Old Occitan passio violent love (c1200), Old Occitan passion suffering, torment, narrative of a saint's suffering (c1070), sufferings of Jesus (c1100; Occitan passion), Spanish pasión sufferings of Jesus (1228–46 as passion, now also in sense ‘intense emotion’), Italian passio gospel of the Passion (13th cent.), passione emotion, suffering (1294), also Middle High German passie, passiōn sufferings of Jesus, narrative of the Passion (German Passion strong emotion, dedication to a cause, sufferings of Jesus, narrative of the Passion).In Old English in form passio after the Latin nominative singular, and in form passionem after the Latin accusative singular.

Etymology: < passion n. Compare Old French, Middle French, French passionner to cause pain (c1180), to torment, afflict (1223), to cause strong emotion (late 15th cent.), to be moved by passion (a1577), post-classical Latin passionari (late 13th or early 14th cent. in a British source), Italian passionare (a1311), Spanish †passionar (1400), Catalan †passionar (1399), Old Occitan passionar (1254; Occitan passionar), all in sense ‘to torture, torment’, also Middle High German passien to torture, torment, German †passionieren to be excited, moved (15th cent., only in reflexive use; < French passionner; now only in past participle passioniert passionate, devoted (used as adjective)).