Who's Passion?

Question

> If the learned correspondant knew what the word passion means, he'd never assign it to Rabbi Akiva, or the Jewish people. Though the0 modern sense of the word includes: strong emotion, zeal (and sexual desire) this is not what christian's mean when they speak about the passion of jesus. "Passion," in its original, pre-modern sense refers specifically and soley to Jesus' anguish on the cross. It comes from the Latin passio, which means, simply, "suffering." Until around the 13th century the French word "passion" refered only to Jesus's suffering. As the word entered English, there is evidence its sense was broadened to include the suffering of others. But it wasn't until the 16th centruy the word came to signify a panoply of emotional afflictions, such as "extreme anger," "a literary work marked by deep emotion," and, finally, "strong sexual attraction or love."