Bannock

The Online Etymological Dictionary suggests that Gaelic bannach (a cake), the source of the word bannock, is perhaps a loan-word from Latin panis, which in turn has its origins in the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root pa (to feed, to protect). Another source suggests that Gaelic bannach is from Old Brittonic bannoc.
 
In brief, the word bannock (a thick flat cake or bread baked on the hearth or under ashes) comes from Gaelic bannach via Old English bannuc. The Online Etymological Dictionary also suggests that bannuc may be the source of the word bun.
 
David Crystal, the noted linguist, has observed that very few everyday Old English words have such a clear Celtic connection. Bannach is one of these words, along with brock, crag, wan, dun, and a dozen or so others (Crystal, 2013, 37).
 
Here’s a question: In pre-contact indigenous North American societies, was bannock a local food or was it a later import; e.g., from Scotland via the fur trade? There is no clear answer to this question. Some suggest a type of bannock (similar to corn bread) may have been made from North American sources such as maize or camas bulbs. Others disagree. I will leave this question to the experts for further research and discussion.
 
Other words from PIE pa include company (literally, ‘with bread’ or ‘sharing bread’!), food, forage, pabulum, pannier, pantry, pastor, pasture.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
Crystal, David. (2013). The story of English in 100 words. New York: Picador.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Brittonic_origin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bannock_(food)
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