Origin of “de pe a pa”

A comment came to my attention today that I think merits a post. The question regards the origin of the expression “de pe a pa.” (Please see Expression of the Day for October 24, 2009, and the comment by Jay Berneking.)

From what I can tell, the origin is unclear, but we can make some interesting observations and speculations about it.

Tagged as: backward and forward, de pe a pa, from beginning to end, origin of de pe a pa