The German word for passion, die Leidenschaft, comes from the verb leiden, which means “to suffer”. This probably comes from the idea that whatever (or whomever) you’re passionate about has the power to make you suffer.
A similar verb is dulden (“to endure”). If you can endure something, you’re patient, and the word for “patient” is geduldig.1
Ertragen has a meaning similar to dulden, and can also mean “to bear” in the physical sense. It comes from the high-frequency verb tragen (“to carry”). If something is so bad that you can’t carry it, you can at least call it unerträglich (literally “unbearable”).2
