An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pfahl
Pfahl, m,. from the equivalent Middle High German pfâl, Old High German pfâl, masculine, ‘pale, stake’; allied to the equivalent Dutch paal, Anglo-Saxon pâl, English pole, pale. The cognates were undoubtedly borrowed from Latin pâlus (whence also French pal) contemporaneously with the cognates of Pfosten, and probably also with the technical terms relating to building in stone (Ziegel, Schindel, Wall, Mauer, and Pforte); all these words have undergone permutation in High German; see also the following word.