Etymology Dictionary

BANDY-LEGGED,  crook-legged.  (F. and E.)   Swift (in R.) has:  'Your bandy leg, or crooked nose;' Furniture of a Woman's Mind.   The prefix bandy is merely borrowed from the F. bandé, bent, spoken of a bow.   Bandé is the pp. of F. bander, explained by Cotgrave as 'to bend a bow; also, to bind,... tie with bands.'   He has here inverted the order; the right sense is (1) to string a bow; and (2) to bend it by stringing it.—G. band, a band.—G. binden, to bind.   See Bind.   ¶ Observe that the resemblance of bandy to E. bent is deceiving, since the word is not English, but French; yet it happens that bandé is the F. equivalent of bent, because bend is also derived from bind.   See Bend. [†]

ADDENDA

Not (F. and E.), but (F. and Scand.).