In Loreena McKennitt's song "The Bonny Swans" what does the word "bonny" mean?

Question

A farmer there lived in the north country
a hey ho bonny o
And he had daughters one, two, three
The swans swim so bonny o
These daughters they walked by the river's brim
a hey ho bonny o
The eldest pushed the youngest in
The swans swim so bonny o

What does "bonny" mean really?

Does anyone know?

All right, then =)

Answer 1

I love that song. I think in that song it's just a rhythmic sound to put into the chorus but "bonny" really means pretty.

Answer 2

Bonny Swans

Answer 3

Bonny means fair, attractive, sweet, good looking.
adjective
very pleasing to the eye
"my bonny lass"; "there's a bonny bay beyond"; "a comely face"; "young fair maidens"
bonny bonnie comely fair sightly
WordNet Lexical Database v2.1, © 2006 Princeton University

bonny (also bonnie)

• adjective (bonnier, bonniest) chiefly Scottish & N. English 1 physically attractive; healthy-looking. 2 sizeable; considerable.

— DERIVATIVES bonnily adverb bonniness noun.

— ORIGIN perhaps related to Old French bon ‘good’
askoxford.com
In that song the swans' and daughters' beauty is reflected in the water and the word bonny.

Answer 4

trick that might be useful in the future:
Goolgle or other search
"dictionary" and " [ the word you want meaning of ] "
Leads to immediate links with definition

also works with search of
"definition" and word in question

bonny = beautiful or attractive
(as used in Bonny Swans title, but in lyric also used as an adverb, so means beautifully or with attractive style)

and in My Bonny Lies, the old classic folk tune,
Bonny is a noun, meaning "one who is beautiful"

Answer 5

beauty and or beautiful