'apathia' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'apatheia', where 'a-' meant 'not' and 'pathos' meant 'suffering/feeling'.

'apathia' passed into Medieval and Late Latin as 'apatheia'/'apathia' and was borrowed into English (alongside the related form 'apathy'); the modern common form in English became 'apathy', while 'apathia' remains a rarer or more technical/literary variant.

Initially, it meant 'freedom from passion' or 'absence of suffering' in Stoic philosophy, but over time it evolved into the more common modern sense of 'lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern'.