English
bonny
Bonny comes from Middle English *boni.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*bonireconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1819bonny
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*bonireconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1819bonny
Earliest quotation: 1819, Walter Scott: “[…]report speaks you a bonny monk, that would hear…”
The story
From Middle English *boni (attested only rarely as bon, boun), probably from Old French bon, feminine bonne (‘good’), from Latin bonus (‘good’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’
down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dun, dynamo, dynastic, tine, taw, beaucoup, beauteous, 91 more
through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’
beautiful, beauty, rebellion, beau, boo, rebellious, bello, rebelling, benefice, bauble, 36 more
through Archaic Latin duenos
ben, beneficial, rebel, beneficiary, revel, bene, bellicose, 37 more
through Latin bonus ‘good’
optimal, bonus, optimism, bona, 14 more
through Old French bon ‘good (not evil)’
Today it means
adj —
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English *boni / bonny