I'm shootin' from the hip here but I think if you looked up "pa" in Pokorny or some Indo European dictionary apparatus you would find that it is a root for such words as "paleo-" and "pastor" and "pasture" (and "power" and "father" for that matter). Specifically I seem to remember that it was the stone fence that separated the "tamed" land from the wild. Why do the English love their manicured gardens so much? Why do so many Americans go for things like rock gardens and "natural" landscaping? It all has to do with the "pale". It all has to do with civilization vs chaos. Hey? How much chaos can you tolerate?

Now, about shooting from the hip...!