Etymograph

English

pal

Pal comes from Angloromani pal ‘brother, friend’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰréh₂tēr‘brother’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*bʰráHtā‘brother’reconstructed
  3. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEभ्रातृbhrātṛ‘brother’
  4. Romanimodernphral‘brother’
  5. Angloromanimodernpal‘brother, friend’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1992same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰréh₂tēr‘brother’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*bʰráHtā‘brother’reconstructed
  3. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEभ्रातृbhrātṛ‘brother’
  4. Romanimodernphral‘brother’
  5. Angloromanimodernpal‘brother, friend’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1992same form

Earliest quotation: 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash: “Mob job. The Mafia has a sample of the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr ‘brother’

brother, bro, fraternity, brethren, fra, friar, fraternal, frater, 11 more

through Sanskrit भ्रातृ ‘brother’

bhai, 1 more

Today it means

noun A friend, buddy, mate, cobber; someone to hang around with.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr / pal

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