An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pfund

by Friedrich Kluge

Pfund, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German pfunt (genitive -des), Old High German pfunt (genitive -tes), neuter, ‘pound’; corresponding to Gothic, Old Icelandic, and Anglo-Saxon pund, English pound, Dutch pond, Old Saxon pund. Since the Gothic word coincides with the terms in the other dialects, Pfund must be one of the earliest loan-words from Latin; it passed into Teutonic probably at the same period as Münze, about the 2nd century, from Latin pondo (indecl.), ‘pound’ (not from pondus, ‘weight’).