v1.0
Published 01/10/24
bunndaist [ˈb̥ɔ̃ũᵰ̪d̪̥iʃtʲ], [ˈb̥ũːᵰ̪d̪̥iʃtʲ]
AFB˄ /bũːNdɪʃdʲ/; in MacCodrom, cf. rhymes mùirneach : bunndaist : dhùbailt (Matheson 1938, 104, line 1504); in Iain Lom, cf. rhymes dh’aontaobh : Hunndaidh : bunndaist (MacKenzie 1964, 78, line 940.
m.,
Also Calder [1923], 1972, 66: bundaiste. The word is masculine in HSS 1828, MacLeod and Dewar 1839, and Dwelly 1911, but feminine in McAlpine 1832, MacLennan 1925 and AFB˄; also in Matheson 1938, 353, and MacKenzie 1964, 428, although the relevant contexts do not seem to specify gender.
‘the perquisites or perks of a job; wage, fee; bounty’, sometimes given as ‘grassum or gersum (an anticipation of rent in a gross or slump sum, or a fine paid in consideration of a lease for a term of years (DOST˄))’ or ‘poundage (a duty or tax of so much per pound sterling on merchandise (OED˄))’.
Mackay (1897, 95) derives bunndaist from Ice. band nt., pl. bönd, ‘band (strip)’, although McDonald (2009, 339–40) thinks the derivation unlikely, mainly on semantic grounds. Mackay’s derivation seems partly inspired by the extended sense ‘yarn’ of Ice. band and by Rob Donn’s use of bunndaist, which his editor glosses ‘weaver’s fee paid in kind’ (Mackay 1829, 137, 352).
Cf. Mackinnon 1886, 366: ‘the weaver’s portion’, and AFB˄: bunntaist a’ bhreabadair (sic) ‘the weaver’s fee, poundage’.
The sense ‘poundage’ seems mainly due to MacBain’s (1896) derivation of bunndaist from Eng. poundage, apparently based on the potential phonetic similarlity between them, cf. SG punnd m. [pʰɔ̃ũᵰ̪d̪̥], [pʰũːᵰ̪d̪̥] < Scots pund or Eng. pound (enclosure). MacLennan (1925) follows MacBain, but McDonald (ibid.) draws attention to MacLennan’s separate entry and ‘poss[ibly] related ... word’ bundàidh (sic) ‘a kind of weaving’. This word is used adjectivally of garters by the poet Seumas MacGhilleSheathanaich (Bàrd Loch nan Eala c.1758–c.1828
Mackenzie 1841, 14.
) in describing Sir Iain Caimbeul (Campbell of Airds) in lavish Highland dress.
Thig suaicheantas nan Gàidheal
Nuair chàirear e ort gu ro-mhath dhuit:
Boineid ghorm ’s coc-àrd innt’,
Lann Spàinnteach is i ’n tarraing ort;
Cha mheas’ [= mhiosa] thig còta sgàrlaid
Ort ùr o làimh an tàilleir.
Gun glèidh Nì Math thu ’d chàirdean,
Chionn ’s maighistir math tèarainn thu. ...
Gur gast thig osan geàrr ort,
Bròg Ghàidhealach is barriall innt’;
Gartain ùr bhundàidh [leg. bhùndaidh],
’S iad ùr o làmh na ban’iche [= ban-fhighiche],
Mud chalpanna geal lìontach,
Air chuma bhradain fhìor-uisg;
Troigh chruinn a dhol roimh’ ’n rìdhleadh,
’S ceòl fìdhle toirt ort carachadh.
(≈Mac-an-Tuairneir 1813, 251–54: 253).
(Highland costume becomes you when they dress you in it: a blue bonnet with a cockade, a drawn Spanish blade; a scarlet coat fresh from the tailor suits you no less. May God keep you amongst your friends, as you are a good, protective master. ...
(You look splendid in short hose, and Highland brogues with laces; with new bùndaidh garters fresh from the hand of the woman who wove them around your white full calves shaped like fresh-water salmon; a neat foot leading in the reel, as the fiddle music moves you.)
This passage is a fine example of the symbolic use of clothing as part of the panegyric code: the subject is at once heroic and noble. Gartain bhùndaidh, with their cotton warp and silk weft, suggest stylishness and sophistication, and the fact that they were woven specifically by a woman indicates the esteem in which the subject was held, as garters would be woven by women for men as a mark of their affection (pers. comm. Professor Hugh Cheape).
Professor Hugh Cheape suggests that bundàidh in this context may be related to the Scots term bundane,
‘A particular kind of shawl’, but whose origin is unknown (‘[a]bout 1833 shawls called “Bundanes” were woven, silk in the weft and cotton in the warp’ (SND˄)).
referring to the use of both cotton and silk in the weaving process. MacLennan reproduces the word as it originally appears, but the ornamentation of the poem in which it occurs suggests the lengthmark has been misplaced in typesetting and that we should read bùndaidh,
Pers. comm. Professor Meg Bateman. There is aicill† between lines a + b (geàrr ort : Ghàidhealach) and c + d (bhùndaidh : ùr), end-rhyme between b + d (barriall innt : ban’iche), end-rhyme between e + f + g (lìontach : fhìor-uisge : rìdhleadh), aicill between g + h (rìdhleadh : fìdhle) and end-rhyme between d + h (ban’iche : carachadh). †Aicill refers to rhyme between a word at the end of one line and a word in the middle of the following line.
and it may be that both bundane and bùndaidh derive from the name of the inventor William Bundy, each using the first syllable of the surname as a base, followed by an English or Gaelic adjectival suffix, respectively.
Bundy took out 10 patents between 1796–1830, including several to do with the preparation of thread for spinning, culminating in Patent No. 6001 on the 21st September 1830 for ‘Machinery for spinning and twisting silk and wool; also for roving, spinning, and twisting cotton, flax, hemp, and other substances’ (Woodcroft 1854, 81).
Whatever the origin and meaning of bùndaidh, it appears to have nothing to do with bunndaist.
Armstrong (1825) associates bunndaist with SG buin vb [b̥ũɲ] ‘to belong etc.’, while HSS (1828) derives it from SG bun m. [b̥ũn] ‘base, bottom’ + duais f. ‘prize, reward’. Matheson (1938, 353) compares EG [*]buntáiste ‘advantage’, but the form does not seem to be recorded in eDIL˄ and is really Ir. buntáiste
MacBain (ibid.) gives Ir. bunntaiste (cf. Dinneen 1947: bonntáiste, cross-referenced to buntáiste).
m.,
Var. f. (Ó Dónaill 1977).
so O’Reilly (1864) ‘perquisites, advantage’, Dinneen (1947) ‘profit, advantage’, Ó Dónaill (1977) ‘advantage’.
Risk (1974, 74) derives Ir. buntáiste from AN (a)vauntage, so Thomson (1983, 152) SG bunndaist ultimately from the same source; cf. AN vantage ‘advantage, privilege; profit; revenue; benefits in kind’ etc. (AND˄, s.v. avantage), from OFr. vantage, avantage (DEAF˄, s.v. avantage); cf. Scots
‘profit, financial gain; benefit, gain in general’ (DOST˄).
and Eng.
‘advantage, benefit, profit, gain; pecuniary profit or gain; perquisite; an additional amount or sum’ (OED˄).
vantage.
AN vantage with second-syllable stress would yield Ir. buntáiste regularly (O’Rahilly 1976, 88–89), with delenition of the fricative via back-formation. Scots or Eng. vantage seems plausible semantically as an etymon for Scottish Gaelic, but would likely yield SG *buntais regularly, with similar delenition, although lengthening of the stressed vowel before original -nt does occur occcasionally in recent loans, e.g. SG lanntair /ʟɑ̃ũɴtɑð/ < Eng. lantern (Oftedal 1956, 92), which might explain SG bunntais (Shaw 1780: ‘perquisites’; Armstrong 1825 and Dwelly 1911: bun[n]tais ‘idem’) and, with u ~ o alternation, bonntais (CG VI, 55: ‘in Lewis the weaver’s burden was bonntais a’ bhreabadair’). On the other hand, Jamieson (1808, s.v. bounteth) suggests that SG bunntais is ‘merely a corr[uption]’ of Scots bounties, a variant form of bounteth ‘something given as a reward for service or good offices; what is given to servants in addition to their wages’ (see also SND˄, s.v. bountith, bounteth), in which case the Scottish Gaelic diphthong would simply be a reflex of the Scots diphthong.
Note also Scots bounty (‘a bonus formerly paid to fishermen for the season’s fishing in addition to the price paid for the fish caught’, of the same origin as bounteth (SND˄)) used in a Gaelic context in Easter Ross: dar nach d’ robh bounty dh’airgead (Watson 2007, 18) ‘when there was no down payment’.
Phonetically SG bunndaist seems to derive from Scots or Eng. poundage, with the stressed vowel lengthened regularly before post-stress -nd,
O’Rahilly 1976, 49; Ó Baoill 1990, 131; Cox 2000, 214–15: cf. ON *Sand-vatn > SG Sanndabhat [ˈs̪ãũᵰ̪d̪̥əˌvaʰt̪], Eng. brandy > SG branndaidh [ˈb̥ɾãũᵰ̪d̪̥i], EG ionráithne > SG ionndrainn [ˈjɔ̃ũᵰ̪d̪̥ɾaɲ] ‘longing etc.’ with intrusive d (O’Rahilly 1926a, 29).
and yet the senses of bunndaist generally correspond with those of Scots bounties rather than poundage. It may simply be that SG bunndaist (< Scots poundage) has in some instances taken over the senses of SG bunntais, bonntais (< Scots bounties).
Final Scots or Eng. -age yields a range of reflexes in Scottish Gaelic: package > SG pacaid /d’/, usage > ùsaid /d’/; voyage > bòidse /d’ʃ/, carriage > caraids /d’ʃ/; baggage > bagais /ʃ/ (HSS 1828) and bagaist /ʃd’/, sage > sàiste /ʃd’/; carritch, caridge etc. [′kɑrɪtʃ, ′kɑrɪdʒ, ′kɑrətʃər] (the Scots equivalent of Eng. catechism (SND˄)) > caraist /ʃd’/ (MacBain ibid.).