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Publishing history:
v1.0: 01/10/24
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bunnsaidh adj. *[ˈb̥ɔ̃ũ(ᵰ̪)s̪i], *[ˈb̥ũː(ᵰ̪)s̪i] 
Cf. [boonsy] (MacLennan 1925), /buːNsɪ/ (AFB˄).
?Cf. Scots bunch [bunʃ], bunse [bʌns] ‘a squat, corpulent girl or young woman; a stout, sturdy calf’, but for which an onomatopoeic origin is suggested (SND˄, s.v.).
Suidheadh air stiùir trom-laoch leathann
Neartmhor, fuasgailt
Nach tilg bun no bàrr na sumaid
Fairge uaithe:
Clàranach taiceil, làn spionnaidh,
Plocach, màsach,
Mìn-bheumanach, faicleach, furachail,
Làn nàistinn,
Bùnnsaidh, cudthromach, garbh, socair,
Solta, lùthmbor,
Eirmseach, foighidneach, gun ghriobhaig
Ri uchd tùilinn ...
(Thomson 1996b, 144, lines 1632–43)
SG bunnsaidh is listed in a number of dictionaries, either as bun(n)saidh or bùn(n)saidh (with lengthening of the stressed vowel indicated): MacFarlane 1815: bùnnsaidh ‘firm, solid, strong’; Armstrong 1825: bunsaidh ‘firm, solid, strong; having a good bottom’; HSS 1828: bunnsaidh, citing MacFarlane; MacLeod and Dewar 1839: bùnnsaidh, bùnsaidh ‘firm, solid, strong; having a good bottom’; MacEachen 1842: bunnsaidh ‘firm, steady’; Dwelly 1911: bùnsaidh, s.v. bunnsaidh ‘firm, solid, strong, having a good bottom’; MacLennan 1925: bunnsaidh ‘firm, steady’; and AFB˄: bunnsaidh ‘firm, solid’; cf. Ir. bunnsaidh ‘strong, firm, solid’ (O’Reilly 1817) – while O’Reilly sometimes adopts words from Scottish Gaelic, this seems to appear already in Bullet’s 1759 Irish-French dictionary: bonnsaidhe, in the sense ‘qui lance [that throws]’.
SG bunnsaidh seems to be related to bunnsach f. ‘rod, switch, twig; osier, Salix viminalis, a place where it grows; dart, javelin’ (MacEachen; Dwelly; Clyne 1989, 77; and Shaw 1780: pl. bunnseacha (sic)), also written bùnsach (MacFarlane; Clyne) and, with the stressed vowel alternating with o, bonnsach (Kirk 1690; 
In his rendition of Bedell’s Irish Bible, Kirk uses bunnsach for Bedell’s bonnsach (Job 41:26), but bonnsach in his appended glossary.
Lhuyd 1707: bonsax (i.e. bonsach); Bullet 1759: bonsach ‘dard, javelot, flêche’; O’Reilly: búnsach (in Gaelic script), bunsach (in Roman script); Dinneen 1947: bunnsach, bonnsach; Ó Dónaill 1977: bonsach.
With alternative suffixes, compare also SG bunnsag ‘twig, rod, wand; osier’ (cf. the similar plant name doublet seòbhrach ~ seòbhrag ‘primrose’): MacDomhnuill 1741, 69: bunsog, who frequently writes -og for -ag, cf. (p. 14) an fheúsog ‘the beard’ (for an fheusag); so also Shaw; Cameron 1883, 71: bunsag; Clyne: bùnsag; MacEachen, s.v. bunnsach: bunnsag; Dwelly: idem; Clyne: bùnnsag; and perhaps bonnsag ‘boulder’, via semantic extension (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Skye); cf. Ir. bunsóg ‘rod, twig, osier’ (O’Reilly: búnsóg (in Gaelic script), bunsog (in Roman script)) and bonsaire ‘sturdy child’ (Ó Dónaill 1977; cf. bonnsier (incorrectly translated as) ‘qui lance’ (Bullet).
Note also that, while EG bunaḋasach ‘original, principal’ 
< bunaḋas ‘origin, source’ < bunaḋ ‘origin, basis, sourse’ < EG bun.