Language Of Confusion: Buffed Out

A short one this week, as next week is Thanksgiving and I’m running out of steam.
 
The word buff first showed up in the late sixteenth century meaning soft leather made from buffalo hide, coming from the French buffle, their word for buffalo. Then in the late seventeenth century, it became an adjective, first meaning like buff leather, then in 1762 the color. Buff as in to polish showed up later than that, in 1849, definitely from the leather, either from the treatment of it or from using a buff cloth to polish metals.
 
The word buffer is also pretty recent, having shown up in 1835 from the verb buff. But not the polishing buff, which is related, just in a stupid way. See, this buff meant to make a dull sound when struck, and then in 1886 it evolved to mean something which absorbed a blow, hence buffer. It actually showed up several decades after buffer as in a polisher, which showed up in 1854. Anyway, absorption buffer comes from the Old French bufe, a blow or punch. And that word is from buffet. Uh, not that buffet.
 
You’re probably thinking a buffet like food, which showed up in 1718 meaning a sideboard and then a table of refreshments in 1792, a word from the French buffet. Its origin is unknown, but there’s no indication it’s related to the other buffet, which showed up in the thirteenth century and means a hit with a fist or bludgeon. That’s the word buff is from. It comes from the Old French bufe, a punch, which is just thought to be from the sound it makes when you punch.
 
And of course there’s buffalo—the word, not the city name. It showed up in the late sixteenth century, also from the French buffle, from the Portuguese bufalo, Medieval Latin bufalus, which is from the classical Latin bubalus, all of which mean buffalo or a wild ox. And for some reason American bison are called buffalo, despite not being buffalo. Oh, and the city Buffalo is in all likelihood not related and is either from an indigenous word or from the French beau fleuve, beautiful river.
 
You wouldn’t expect one word to be so complicated.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
Dictionary of Medieval Latin