Etymologically
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bunt

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Pronunciation

Forms

bunt (strong nominative masculine singular bunter, comparative bunter, superlative am buntesten)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bunt (“black and white, spotted”), probably borrowed from Latin pūnctus (“pricked, stitched”), the past participle of pungō (“to prick”).[2][3][4] It would first have been a monastery word for embroidery in black thread on a white ground, and would thus be a doublet of Punkt.[2][3][1] Kluge calls the derivation likely, Duden only possible.[2][4] Lexer cites Wackernagel's Latin source, supported by a variant bunct in a manuscript of Parzival, the Low German forms and the ⟨t⟩ kept in inflection,[5] while the Grimms derived it from binden, “provided with bands, striped”, and rejected a Romance source.[6]

The same word is Middle Low German bunt and Middle Dutch bont, modern Dutch bont;[2][3][1] Wiktionary notes that Dutch has somewhat earlier records of the sense, but its form may point to a High German source, so that the direction of borrowing is unsettled.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Middle High German bunt is first a noun for black-and-white fur, opposed to the plain grey grâ: the Alexander of Lamprecht (about 1170) has the knights wear grâ unde bunt, and the Nibelungenlied says that the warriors were given grâ unde bunt for clothes.[7][8] As an adjective “black and white, piebald” it describes Feirefiz, the half-brother of Parzival with a spotted skin, in Wolfram's Parzival (about 1200–1210).[9][8]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century bunt began to replace the older Middle High German vêch “many-coloured”, which died out in the 16th century.[2][8] The sense “many-coloured” arose in the 14th century and spread through Luther's Bible, where Jacob breeds spotted sheep.[3][9] Dyers called every colour except black and white bunt, and in heraldry it meant “striped red and white”.[10][9] Hungarian bonta “spotted” is recorded as early as 1321.[11]

Figuratively the word came to mean “varied, mixed”, as in bunte Reihe, a seating order in which men and women alternate, and then “disorderly, wild”: es zu bunt treiben is to go too far, and Goethe already wrote das wird mir zu bunt, “that is too much for me”.[8][12] Bekannt wie ein bunter Hund, “known everywhere”, goes back to the spotted animal coat.[10] Buntmetall, a non-ferrous heavy metal, is a 20th-century word.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1170 – grâ unde bunt “grey and particoloured fur” in Lamprecht's Alexander.[7]
  • c. 1200–1210 – Wolfram calls Feirefiz der bunte man.[9]
  • 13th century – bunt begins to replace vêch.[2]
  • 14th century – The sense “many-coloured” appears.[2][3]
  • 1321 – Hungarian bonta is recorded.[11]
  • 1522 – Luther writes of bundte schaff, speckled sheep.[9]
  • 20th century – Buntmetall is coined.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Colourful, multicoloured; having colours other than white, grey and black: ein bunter Schal;[12][1] bunte Kühe, spotted cows.[12][1]
  2. Mixed, varied: ein buntes Programm;[12][1] ein bunter Abend, an evening of mixed entertainment.[12][1]
  3. Disorderly, confused: Die Papiere lagen bunt durcheinander.[12]
  4. (colloquial) In es wird jemandem zu bunt, something becomes too much for someone, and es zu bunt treiben, to go too far.[12][8]

Word family

  • kunterbunt
  • quietschbunt
  • Buntmetall
  • Buntspecht

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 163
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 383
  6. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 525
  7. ^ a b Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 5, 1007
  8. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b c d e Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 5, 1003
  10. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 1258
  11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag