*pag-

The original idea of this root was:

fixating, fastening

It’s quite visible in offspring like the German fangen (to catch) or the Latin based “pact” which originally was a “fixed agreement”.
But there are quite a few surprises in this family.

Here’s an overview over most of the English family members:

• pact (fixed agreement)
• pax, peace, pacify, appease, … (fixed treaty)
• pay (originally “make peaceful”)
• peasant, pagan (fixed plot of land)
• page (piece of paper “fixed” to others)
• compact (“fixed together”)
• pole, palisade, impale (“fixed piece of wood”)
• travel (from a French word for “work”, which in turn is from a Latin word for torture that meant “three-pole”)