[scrollaway]

You just blew my mind - never gave a thought to the etymology of "pas". I had to verify it because I simply couldn't believe it.

Come to think of it it also explains how "point" is sometimes used instead of "pas".

[umanwizard]

Yep, and constructions like "il ne dit mot", "il ne boit goutte", etc., were once much more common than they are today. Not sure why "pas" became the canonical negation word out of all those choices.