pair [ME] Pair comes from Latin paria ‘equal things’, formed from par ‘equal’. Latin par also lies behind compare [LME] ‘to pair with, bring together’; disparage [ME] originally ‘a mis-pairing especially in marriage’, later ‘to discredit’; nonpareil [LME] ‘not equalled’ (taken directly from the French); par [L16th] ‘equal’, a golfing term from L19th; parity [L16] ‘equalness’; peer [ME] ‘equal’; and umpire [ME] originally noumpere, from the same source as nonpareil, because an umpire is above all the players. A noumpere was later re-interpreted as ‘an umpire’ and the initial ‘n’ was lost.