Bunker went from a Scottish bench to a coal bin to a golf hazard to Hitler's last refuge — each meaning preserving the core concept of an enclosed, protected space.
A reinforced underground shelter, especially for wartime use. Also a sand-filled hazard on a golf course, or a container for storing fuel or coal on a ship.
From Scots English bunker (a bench, a seat, a chest or box), possibly from Scandinavian source related to Old Swedish bunke (board, plank) or Middle Low German bunke (bone, kneecap) Key roots: bunker (Scots English: "bench, chest, storage bin").
Bunker started as a Scots word for a bench or storage box, then became a coal storage bin on ships (the ship's bunker), then a sand-filled pit on a golf course (St Andrews, the birthplace of golf, is in Scotland), and finally the reinforced military shelter we know today. Hitler's Führerbunker in Berlin, where he spent his final days in 1945, cemented the word's military associations worldwide. "Bunker mentality" — the psychological state of feeling besieged and defensive — entered political