The meaning and the origin of the word ‘Bank’

Origin and the historical evolution of bank

The English word ‘Bank’ comes from the Italian word ‘Banco’. In Italian language the word ‘Banco’ means ‘Bench’ or 'Money Exchange Table'. According to some specialists this ‘Banco’ or ‘Bench’ were called Banca, Bancus, Banc etc by Italian people living in different areas. At the middle era in town Lombardi of Northern Italy, there was some Jews businessman who did money business sitting on ‘Bench’. For deposit they gave their customer deposit slip and for withdrawal they gave withdrawal slip to customer. Later this withdrawal slips were turned into ‘Cheques’. In that time Jews Money-Businessmen broke the ‘Bench’ or 'Money Exchange Table' of debtors who failed to repay the debts. And this is the source of the word ‘Bankrupt’.

According to some other specialists, the Italian word ‘Banco’ comes from the German and Austrian word ‘Banke’ which refers to Government Loan or Issuing Paper Note. In the middle of the 12^th century there was a war between German and Italy. In that war both Italian and German government needed money. And to collect deposit they offered their people to deposit their money to the government and in return after certain period they could withdraw with 5% interest. So both governments took loan from their people for the war. This loan was called ‘Monte’ in Italy and ‘Banke’ in German. So finally we can say the English word ‘Bank’ comes from Italian ‘Banco’ and German and Austrian ‘Banke’.

Banke (German Word) ------------> Banco (Italian Word) ------------> Bank (English Word)