Five millennia ago, the Proto-Indo-European people living on the Pontic-Caspian steppe used the term brahter to signify “brother”. Over time, this word transformed into familiar terms like English brother and Latin frater. However, the most intriguing evolution occurred in Sanskrit, where it became bhrata with the same meaning. This eventually led to the Romani words phral or pral, introduced to Europe by the migrating Roma in the thirteenth century CE. By 1770, the term had taken on a negative connotation in English, associated with criminal accomplices (possibly due to prejudice against the Roma). By the mid-nineteenth century, the word had shed its consonant clusters and adopted the definition of “compatriot” or “friend” – giving rise to the modern usage of pal! The verb form of the word was first recorded in 1879.
