An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/bunt
bunt, adj., ‘gay, mottled, variegated,’ a MidG. and LG. word (for which gefleckt, gespreckelt, &c., are used in UpG.), from the equiv. MidHG. bunt (inflected bunter); nt shows that the word cannot have been handed down from OHG., for nt in OHG. would have become nd in MidHG. Akin to MidLG. bunt, MidDu. bont, also with -nt-. Bunt was borrowed in the MidHG. period; the MidHG. signification, ‘with black spots on a white ground’ (ModHG. bunt is MidHG. missenar), supports the view that it was borrowed from MidLat. punctus, ‘dotted, spotted’ (for the loss of the medial c comp. Ital. punto, ‘point,’ as well as Tinte). In spite of this explanation the absence of the word in Rom. is remarkable. On account of the earlier reference to fur-skin (MidHG. and MidLG. bunt, n., also signifies ‘fur-skin’), MidLat. mus ponticus, ‘ermine,’ has been suggested, the meaning of which would suit excellently were there no objection to the form of the expression.