An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/puffen
puffen, vb., ‘to puff, buffet, cuff,’ ModHG. only, prop. a LG. word; comp. Du. pof, ‘thrust, blow, credit’ (whence ModHG. Puff in the sense of ‘credit’), probably allied also to bobbien, buffen, ‘to strike,’ E. buffet, subst. and vb.; puff (hence the meaning of Puff, ‘puffing of a sleeve’), and to puff (AS. pyffan). “The close proximity of the meanings ‘to blow’ (inflate) and ‘to strike’ is not unusual; Fr. souffer and soufflet furnish a ready example; the Rom. languages have the same stem,” though it is not necessary to assume that one was borrowed from the other; the stem buf may have originated independently as an imitative form in both groups. Comp. Ital. buffo, ‘blast of wind,’ buffettare, ‘to snort,’ Span. bofetada, ‘box on the ear.’