Etymograph

English

bank

Bank comes from Italian banca ‘counter, moneychanger's bench or table’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to turn, curve, bend, bow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankiz‘bench’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*banki‘bench’reconstructed
  4. Lombardicmodernbank‘bench’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentbanca‘counter’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600banque
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500banke
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1625bank

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankiz‘bench’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*banki‘bench’reconstructed
  4. Lombardicmodernbank‘bench’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentbanca‘counter’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600banque
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500banke
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1625bank

Earliest quotation: 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Usury: “Let it be no bank or common stock, but…”

The story

For the bench-bank relation, compare typologically Russian ла́вка (lávka), прила́вок (prilávok).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to turn, curve, bend, bow’

back, beach, bitch, baker, batch, petite, petit, baxter, bicker, bichon, 8 more

through Proto-West Germanic *banki ‘bench’

bench, 4 more

through Lombardic bank ‘bench, counter’

banquet, banco, 2 more

through Middle French banque

banque, 2 more

Another origin of bank

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankô‘bank, embankment’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bankōreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*banca‘bench’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bank‘the bank of a river or lake’
  5. Englishtodaysame form

From Middle English bank, banke, from Old English *banca (‘bench’) (attested in Old English hōbanca (‘couch’) and Old English banc (‘bank, hillock, embankment’), from Proto-West Germanic *bankō, from Proto-Germanic *bankô.

Another origin of bank

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-‘to bend, curve, arch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankiz‘bench’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*bankireconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400banc‘bench’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bank‘the bank of a river or lake’
  6. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of bank

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-‘to bend, curve, arch’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankiz‘bench’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*banki‘bench’uncertain
  4. Old High Germanc. 750–1050bancuncertain
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame formuncertain
  6. Englishtodaybank

Today it means

noun An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- / bank

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