Originally Posted by
gRomoZeka Etymologically "выдержка" derives from the verb "держать" (to hold).
Meanings of выдержка:
1) self-control, self-mastery, self-restraint
2) tenacity; staying power, endurance
3) ripening, ag(e)ing (about wine)
вино двухлетней выдержки — two-year-old wine
4) (photo) exposure
5) extract, excerpt, quotation
All of them are widely used in modern Russian.
It's interesting to see, how languages work, and how a word in one can correspond to multiple words in others. In this case words 1-4 have an obvious common theme: waiting, holding on.