v1.0
Published 01/10/24
bunnsaidh adj. *[ˈb̥ɔ̃ũ(ᵰ̪)s̪i], *[ˈb̥ũː(ᵰ̪)s̪i]
Cf. [boonsy] (MacLennan 1925), /buːNsɪ/ (AFB˄).
(the latter pronunciation also spelt bùnnsaidh) ‘firm, solid; steady’. Henderson (1910, 233, esp. 256) takes bunnsaidh in Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair’s poem ‘Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill’ to be a substantive noun in the sense ‘short, thick-set man’, which he derives from Norse (sic) bunksi, bungsi ‘a stout, clumsy person’; so also Ó Muirithe (2013, 21, s.v. bonnsaidh (sic): ‘Norwegian dialectal’), who cites Jakobsen (1928: ‘a short, stout person’). Scots bunksi, bungsi, however, would be phonetically unlikely to yield SG bunnsaidh. Scots bunsi adj. ‘stout, thick-set’, on the other hand, just might, cf. Sw. dial. bonsig ‘large’, Norw. bunsig ‘coarsely built’ (ibid.; Torp 1992, s.v. bunsa).
?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.).
Indeed, from its context as part of a list of adjectives or adjectival phrases,
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)
Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair’s bunnsaidh can fairly safely be taken as an adjective; this is the position taken by Thomson (1996b, 144, line 1640: bùnnsaidh, 199: bunnsaidh ‘solid’) in his edition of the poem, and perhaps more tentatively by MacLeod (1933, 44, ll. 190: bunnsaidh; 85: adj. ‘firm, steady’; noun ‘a stockily-built man’) in his. Yet bunnsaidh as an adjective seems to have a native origin.
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’; Mac Eachainn 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’ (Mac Eachainn; 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.
MacLeod and Dewar); cf. Ir. bunnsach, bonnsach ‘rod; wattle; dart, javelin, arrow’.
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.
For a Celtic provenance of EG bun(n)sach (cf. EG bun ‘base, butt, foot’), see Pedersen 1913 II, 21, §367: *bhonustikā, also Vendryes 1996, s.v. bunsach. SG (and Ir.) bunnsaidh is presumably from earlier *bun(n)saiġḋe, < bun(n)saiġ, an oblique form of bun(n)sach, + the adjectival suffix -ḋ(a)e.
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; Mac Eachainn, 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.
yields SG bunasach ‘original; basic, fundamental’ regularly, bunasach also occurs in the senses ‘firm, solid, steady’ (e.g. McAlpine 1832; Dwelly; MacLennan; Dieckhoff 1932: bunnasach), which begs the question whether SG bun(n)sach (falling together with bunasach) may at one time have also occurred as an adjective in its own right.