Etymology: Middle English band , bond , < Old Norse band neuter (Danish baand , Swedish band ) = Old Saxon, Old Frisian band , Old High German bant , pant < Germanic *bando-(m) , < band- stem of bind-an to bind v. Not in Gothic, nor in Old English, which had only the cognate bęnd feminine < Germanic *bandjâ- : see bend n.¹ which survived in Middle English alongside of band , bond . Band and bond were at first merely phonetic variants (compare land , lond , stand , stond , man , mon , etc.), but are now largely differentiated in use, bond being usual in branch II, in which band is archaic or obsolete. Compare band n.², which in modern use is treated as identical with this.

Etymology: Late Middle English bande , < French bande ‘flat strip or strap, fascia, edge, side’; in Old French also bende = Provençal benda , Italian benda , Lombard binda , < Old High German bindâ < Germanic *bindôn , < bindan to bind: thus ultimately cognate with band n.¹, with which, since the loss of final -e , it has been formally identical in English. The variant bend n.², from the earlier Old French bende, is retained in Heraldry. (Although Old French bende would of itself give a later bande , the French and Italian forms suggest that both banda and benda may have existed from the first in Romanic: see band n.³

Etymology: Late 15th cent. bande , < French bande = Provençal banda , Spanish banda , Italian banda , apparently adopted < Germanic (compare Old High German bant , Old Saxon, Old Norse band : see band n.¹; also Gothic bandi : see bend n.¹). The word received in Romanic a new development of sense, not found in Germanic, with which it has since been taken back, not only into English, but also into German (bande ) and Dutch (bende , formerly bande ); the adoption being facilitated by its obvious connection with the native words. In English, where the pre-existing band n.¹, was synonymous with bend , the present word was, by confusion with these, also often written bend . So also in modern Dutch bende for bande , by association with a native bende : see bend n.¹The actual history of banda in this sense, and its relation to the Germanic forms, are uncertain, owing to questions concerning its age, and to the fact that Italian, Spanish, Portuguese banda , French bande , are found also as synonyms of benda , bende ‘fascia’ (which, except in Italian, they have now indeed superseded), while conversely Littré's earliest example of bande ‘troop’ is spelt bende , thus showing at least form-association between the two words. And some actually identify them: Du Cange says that the company of soldiers formed by Alfonso of Castille was called a banda , from the red banda or ribbon worn by them as a sash; and the new ed. of the Vocab. della Crusca explains banda as ‘Company of soldiers, because originally distinguished by a banda or band of cloth of a certain colour.’ But Littré refers banda , bande ‘troop’ to late Latin bandum banner n.¹; and Du Cange shows medieval Latin bandus in sense both of ‘fascia,’ and of ‘company of men collected under a certain leader or banner,’ thus associating all three notions. Whatever the original source, it is evident that the popular feeling associated benda, banda, ‘fascia, stripe, sash, scarf, ribbon,’ banda, ‘company, troop,’ and bandum ‘banner.’

Etymology: Of uncertain origin: it may be conjecturally connected either with band n.², or with band n.⁵ = bound, bourne, as separating two valleys or gills; the Welsh bant ‘height’ has also been compared.

Etymology: variant of bonde, a Middle English form of bound n.¹

Etymology: < French bande-r, < bande band n.¹, band n.², the senses of which run together in the verb. Perhaps partly derived from the English nouns.

Etymology: either < French bander, or shortened form of bandy v.; compare the past participles banded, bandied, of similar sound.