Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

Origin of the word DUN.--Dunny, in the provincial dialect of several counties, signifies deaf : to dun, then, perhaps may mean, to deafen with importunate demands. Some derive it from the word donnez, which signifies give ; but the true original meaning of the word owes its birth to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, so extremely active and so dexterous in his business, that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay, " Why do you not dun him ?" that is, Why do not you get Dun to arrest him ?-Hence it became a cant-word, and is now as old as since the days of Henry VII. Dun was also the general name of hangman, before that of Jack-ketch.

And presently a halter got,
Made of the best strong hempen tear,
And e'er a cat could lick her ear.
Had tied it up with as much art,
As Dun himself could do for's heart.

Cotton's Virgil Tra. Book iv.

It is curious to observe that Dun, who, as we said before, was finisher of the law in the reign of Henry VII. had a son, who became a bailiff-This bailiff having scraped some money together, made his son an attorney, who changed the name of Dun to Dunning the rest of the genealogy are well known.