DCHP-1 Online
Bungee Bungay, Bungie, Bungy [< Algonk.; cf. Ojibwa penkī small] Hist. 
1 n. an Ojibwa, or Salteaux, Indian.
- 1776 (1951) He had been for some years past a Trader . . . on the back of Albany Fort, and often used to see the Bungee Indian Debtors belonging to that place.
- 1858 (1860) Our camp received an unexpected addition of six "Bungays." Note: Crees and Ojibways of mixed origin.
- 1924 Bungay . . . a common term for the Salteaux Indians . . . is nothing more than a nickname . . . a corrupt Cree word from Pungey, meaning "a little," uttered by Indians when they are hungry and . . . begging for something to eat, as "give me a little."
- 1952 From all this it is evident that the Bungees were the Ojibway of the Red River--not the Crees. And since the Red River dialect contains Cree words rather than Ojibway, it seems that the historians who maintain that the term Bungee should not be applied to the dialect are right.
2 n. a lingua franca spoken in the nineteenth century in the Red River area in Manitoba.
- 1951 Half-breeds of Scottish or Orkney and Cree ancestry [in Manitoba c1870] . . . spoke a curious dialect known as "Bungee" or "Bungay" which combined some of the characteristics of both tongues, with the occasional use of a few words of French and other languages.
- 1952 . . . we have had several enquiries as to the origin of the term Bungee. The best guess so far is that it comes from the Ojibway word punge, meaning little or few--though why this name should be given to the dialect is not explained.
- 1776 (1951) He had been for some years past a Trader . . . on the back of Albany Fort, and often used to see the Bungee Indian Debtors belonging to that place.