'banty' originates from English, specifically as a diminutive form of 'bantam', where 'Bantam' referred to the port 'Bantam' (now Banten) in Java from which small fowls were exported.

'banty' changed from the English word 'bantam' by adding the diminutive suffix '-y'; 'bantam' entered English from European languages referring to the place name 'Bantam'.

Initially, it meant 'a fowl from Bantam' (the place), but over time it evolved into 'a small chicken' and then figuratively to mean 'a small but combative person'.