Online Etymology Dictionary

bund: "league, confederacy," 1850, from Ger. Bund (related to Eng. band (2) and bind). Of various organizations, in U.S. esp. the pro-Nazi Germany organization founded 1936.
Bundestag: Ger. federal council, 1879, from Ger., from gen. of Bund "league, confederacy, association" (related to Eng. band (2) and bind) + tag, lit. "day;" as a verb, tagen, meaning "to sit in conference" (c.f. adjourn).
bundle: c.1331, from M.Du. bondel dim. of bond, from binden "bind," or perhaps a merger of this word and O.E. byndele "binding," from P.Gmc. base *bundilin, from PIE base *bhendh- "tie." The verb meaning "to wrap up in warm heavy clothes" is from 1893. Bundling (1781) "sharing a bed for the night, fully dressed, wrapped up with someone of the opposite sex" was a former local custom in Wales and New England.
bung: c.1440, from M.Du. bonge "stopper," or perhaps from Fr. bonde, which may be of Gmc. origin, or from Gaul. bunda (cf. O.Ir. bonn, Gael. bonn, Welsh bon "base, sole of the foot"). It is possible that either or both of these sources is ult. from L. puncta in the sense of "hole."
bungalow: 1676, from Gujarati bangalo, from Hindi bangla "low, thatched house," lit. "Bengalese," used elliptically for "house in the Bengal style."
bungee: 1930, "elastic rope;" used in late 19c. British schoolboy slang for "rubber eraser;" probably from notions of bouncy and spongy; first record of bungee jumping is from 1979.
bunghole: "anus," by 1600, from bung + hole.
bungle: 1530, origin obscure, perhaps a mix of boggle and bumble, or more likely from a Scand. word akin to Sw. bangla "to work ineffectually," from O.Sw. bunga "to strike" (cf. Ger. Bengel "cudgel," also "rude fellow").
bunion: 1718, from E.Anglian dialectic bunny "lump, swelling," from M.Fr. buigne "bump on the head" (see bun).
bunk (1): "sleeping berth," 1758, probably a shortened from bunker, Scot. for "a seat, bench," of uncertain origin, possibly from a Scand. source (cf. O.Sw. bunke "boards used to protect the cargo of a ship").
bunk (2): "nonsense," 1900, short for bunkum, phonetic spelling of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. During the protracted Missouri statehood debates, on Feb. 25, 1820, N.C. Representative Felix Walker began what promised to be a "long, dull, irrelevant speech," and he resisted calls to cut it short by saying he was bound to say something that could appear in the newspapers in the home district and prove he was on the job. "I shall not be speaking to the House," he confessed, "but to Buncombe." Bunkum has been Amer.Eng. slang for "nonsense" since 1847.
bunker: 1758, from Scottish, "seat, bench," possibly a variant of banker "bench" (1677). Of golf courses, first recorded 1824; meaning "dug-out fortification" is probably from World War I. Bunker Hill, in Massachusetts, was land assigned to George Bunker (1634), who came from the vicinity of Bedford, England. The name dates from 1229, as Bonquer, and is from O.Fr. bon quer "good heart."
bunny: 1690, dim. of Scottish dialectal bun, pet name for "rabbit," previously (1587) for "squirrel," and also a term of endearment for a young attractive woman or child (1606). Ultimately could be from Scottish bun "tail of a hare" (1538), or from Fr. bon, or from a Scand. source. The Playboy Club hostess sense is from 1960. The Bunny Hug (1912), along with the foxtrot and the Wilson glide, were among the popular/scandalous dances of the ragtime era.
Bunsen burner: 1879, named for Prof. Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899) of Heidelberg, who invented it in 1855. He also was co-inventor of the spectroscope.
bunt: 1825, "to strike with the head or horns," perhaps an alteration of butt (as a goat), or from M.E. bounten "to return." Baseball term is from 1889.
bunting (1): "flag material," 1742, perhaps from M.E. bonting gerundive of bonten "to sift," because cloth was used for sifting grain, via O.Fr. from V.L. *bonitare "to make good."
bunting (2): "type of lark-like bird," c.1300, bountyng, maybe from buntin "plump" (cf. baby bunting, also Scots buntin "short and thick;" Welsh bontin "rump," and bontinog "big-assed"), or a double dim. of Fr. bon.
bunyip: 1848, fabulous swamp-dwelling animal, from an Australian aborigine language.
buoy (n.): 1296, perhaps from either O.Fr. buie or M.Du. boeye, both from W.Gmc. *baukn "beacon" (cf. O.H.G. bouhhan, O.Fris. baken). OED, however, supports M.Du. boeie, or O.Fr. boie "fetter, chain" (see boy), "because of its being fettered to a spot." The verb, in the fig. sense (of spirits, etc.) is from 1645.
buoyance: 1821, from buoyant.
buoyancy: 1713, from buoyant. Fig. sense (of spirits, etc.) is from 1819.
buoyant: 1578, perhaps from Sp. boyante, prp. of boyar "to float," from boya "buoy," from Du. boei (see buoy). Of personalities, etc., from c.1748.
bur: "prickly seed vessel of some plants," early 14c., burre, from a Scandinavian source (cf. Dan. borre, Swed. hard-borre, O.N. burst "bristle"), from PIE *bhors- (see bristle). Transferred 1610s to "rough edge on metal," which may have been the source of the sense "rough sound of the letter -r-" (see burr).
burble: "to bubble," c.1300, onomatopoeic.
burd: poetic word for "woman, lady" in old ballads; later "young lady, maiden," c.1200, perhaps from O.E. byrde "wealthy, well-born." Or a metathesis of bryd "bride." The masculine equivalent was berne.
burden: O.E. byrðen "a load," from P.Gmc. *burthinjo "that which is borne" (cf. O.N. byrðr, O.S. burthinnia, Ger. bürde, Goth. baurþei), from PIE *bher- "carry, give birth." The shift from -th- to -d- took place beginning 12c. (cf. murder). Archaic burthen is occasionally retained for the specific sense of "capacity of a ship." Sense of "leading idea" (1649) and "refrain or chorus of a song" (1598) are from use in M.E. bibles to translate Heb. massa "lifting up (of the voice), oracle;" but this sense is generally taken in Eng. as "a heavy lot, fate." Burden of proof is recorded from 1593.
burdensome: 1574, from burden + -some.
burdock: "coarse, weedy plant," 1597, from bur (q.v.) + dock.
burdon: mule between a horse and a she-ass, 1382, from L. burdonem.
bureau: 1699, from Fr. bureau "office, desk," originally "cloth covering for a desk," from burel "coarse woolen cloth" (as a cover for writing desks), dim. of O.Fr. bure "dark brown cloth," which is perhaps either from L. burrus "red," or from L.L. burra "wool, shaggy garment." Offices being full of such desks, the meaning expanded 1720 to "division of a government."
bureaucracy: 1818, from Fr. bureaucratie, from bureau "office," lit. "desk" (see bureau) + Gk. suffix -kratia denoting "power of;" coined by Fr. economist Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay (1712-1759).
"That vast net-work of administrative tyranny ... that system of bureaucracy, which leaves no free agent in all France, except for the man at Paris who pulls the wires." [J.S. Mill, "Westminster Review" XXVIII, 1837]
bureaucrat: 1842, from Fr. bureaucrate (19c.); see bureaucracy.
"bureaucrat, &c. The formation is so barbarous that all attempt at self-respect in pronunciation may perhaps as well be abandoned." [Fowler]
bureaucratic: 1836, from Fr. bureaucratique; see bureaucracy. Bureaucratization is from 1916.
burette: 1836, from Fr. burette "small vase," dim. of buire "vase for liquors."
burg: "town or city," 1843, Amer.Eng. colloquial, from many place names ending in -burg (see borough).
burgeois: obs. form of bourgeois.
burgeon: early 14c., from O.Fr. burjoner "to bud, sprout," from burjon "a bud," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Germanic. Related: Burgeoning (late 14c.).
burger: 1939, Amer.Eng., shortened from hamburger (q.v.).
burgess: early 13c., burgeis "citizen of a borough," from O.Fr. burgeis, L.L. burgensis (see bourgeois). Applied from late 15c. to borough representatives in Parliament and in Virginia and other colonies used to denote members of the legislative body, while in Pennsylvania, etc., it meant "member of the governing council of a borough."
burgher: 1568, "freeman of a burgh," from M.Du. burgher, from M.H.G. burger, from O.H.G. burgari "inhabitant of a fortress," from burg "fortress, citadel" (see borough).
burglar: 1541, shortened from M.E. burgulator, from Anglo-L. burglator (1268), from O.Fr. burgeor "burglar," from M.L. burgator "burglar," from burgare "to break open, commit burglary," from L. burgus "fortress, castle," a Gmc. loan-word akin to borough. The intrusive -l- is perhaps from infl. of L. latro "thief," originally "hired servant." The native word was burgh-breche.
burglarize: 1871, from burglar (q.v.) + -ize.
burglary: c.1200, Anglo-L. burglaria (see burglar).
burgle: 1872, verbal back-formation from burglar (q.v.). Pp. burgled is attested from 1880.
Burgundy: 1672, "wine made in Burgundy," duchy in France, from M.L. Burgundia, from L.L. Burgundiones, lit. "highlanders."
burial: c.1250, "tomb," false singular, from O.E. byrgels "tomb," from byrgan "to bury" + suffix -els, a compound from P.Gmc. *burzisli- (cf. O.S. burgisli). Meaning "act of burying" is from 1453. The Gmc. suffix *-isli- (cf. O.E. hydels "hiding place," fætels "bag") became obsolete and was felt as a plural of the Latin-derived suffix -al forming nouns of action from verbs (survival, approval, etc.).
burin: engraver's tool, 1662, from Fr. burin, cognate with It. bolino, Sp. buril, perhaps from O.H.G. bora "tool for boring" (see bore (v.)).
burka: 1836, from Hindi, from Arabic burqa'.
Burke (v.): family name (first recorded 1066) is from Anglo-Norman pronunciation of O.E. burgh. Not common in England itself, but it took root in Ireland, where William de Burgo went in 1171 with Henry II and later became Earl of Ulster. As shorthand for a royalty reference book, it represents "A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom," first issued 1826, compiled by John Burke (1787-1848). As a verb meaning "murder by smothering," it is abstracted from William Burk, executed in Edinburgh 1829 for murdering several persons to sell their bodies for dissection.
burl: "small knot in wool or cloth," c.1440, from O.Fr. bourle "tuft of wool," which perhaps is related to the root of bur.