An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kunterbunt

by Friedrich Kluge

kunterbunt, adjective, ‘higgledy-piggledy,’ Modern High German only; in Middle High German, however, kuntervêch, adjective, which means ‘variegated, strange as a Kunter,’ i.e. ‘monster’. But while Middle High German kunter, ‘monster,’ and Old High German chuntar, ‘herd, drove of cattle’ (cognate with Old Slovenian ženą, Lithuanian genù, ‘I drive cattle’?), are Upper German, kunterbunt is properly Low German. Both Middle High German kuntervêch and Modern High German kunterbunt are imitations of Middle High German kunterfeit, literally ‘contrafactus, not genuine’; from this in Middle High German (Middle German) a word kunter, ‘what is false, deceptive,’ was deduced.