I don't know about the "shopping cart" definition. I've never heard the word used in that sense before. I wonder if it's perhaps a regional term. Can anyone shed any light on this? Ortonmc 20:58, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)
I saw a cash register once prompt the attendant "Buggy Bottom" to remind her to check the lower shelf that's below the main basket. —Długosz
I used to hear it all the time when I lived in Tennessee. I don't know if it's regional or not, but it is used. —Muke Tever 02:16, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)
A "buggy" is used in J.D. James' modern mystery The Lighthouse. The residents use it to get around an island. At first I assumed she was referring to a horse-drawn cart, but no horses were ever mentioned. Then it says something about turning a key to start it. So I assume it must be something like a station wagon or minivan. Any ideas? Bev Davis
Dutch Wikipedia has "Zo'n auto werd Buggy genoemd, naar de VW Bug, zoals de Kever in Amerika genoemd werd. Omdat de auto's kleiner en lichter waren dan de gewone kever werd het verkleinwoord Buggy gebruikt" and the talk page has a short discussion with an unsourced cite, which I searched and found many links to fans of the car VW-Käfer (the Beetle) and a link to w:de:VW-Buggy, so sense 2. is clear.
For the general sense, a few terms to compare to would help.
For fr. bouger ("to move"): The vulgar Latin reconstruction (Vulgar Latin*bullicāre) reminds me of ger. Bollerwagen and so I can't help but think that *-cāre was related to car, even if by folk-etymology, and by extension Wagen, wagon. I find bug- versus wag- attractive, so baggy (bag < baggi) seems to be in the same paradigm, to me, but i can't frame that in linguistic terms. Thoughts? Sources? Rhyminreason (talk) 20:10, 25 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
