köken: From Middle High German pfaht, from Latin pactum (“pact”). The unshifted onset p-, the feminine gender, and the contemporary plural form in -en are northern influences from German Low German [Term?] and/or West Central German. In Grimm's German dictionary, the word is still treated as a masculine noun with plural Pächte; this is now obsolete.
From Middle Dutch pacht, Old Dutch *paht, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Latin pactum. Cognates include Old High German pfāht, Old Frisian pacht; the effects of the Germanic spirant law in these words and the effects of the High German consonant shift in the High German cognate in particular point to a very early borrowing. Doublet of pact and patio.