An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pfand

by Friedrich Kluge

Pfand, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German pfant (genitive -des), Old High German pfant (genitive -tes), neuter) ‘pawn, pledge, security’; it corresponds to Middle Low German and Dutch pand, and Old Frisian pand, which have the same meaning. It is usually derived from Old French pan, ‘cloth, rag’ (from Latin pannus); the West Teutonic word is more closely connected, however, with Old French paner, Provençal panar, Spanish apandar, ‘to fleece a person,’ apañar, ‘to take away’; hence Pfand, ‘taking way,’ or ‘that which is seized’ (Old French pan, ‘the thing seized,’ whence English pawn)?.