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bank

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English has three words spelled bank, all going back to the same Germanic word as bench, but reaching English by different routes.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bæŋk/[3]

bank1 slope, ridge

Etymology

The slope is inherited from Middle English banke, probably borrowed from a Scandinavian source,[4][5][6] such as Old Norse *banki, a variant of bakki (“ridge, river bank, mound”),[5][7][8] compare Old Danish banke “sandbank”, Swedish backe and Danish bakke (“hill”),[5][8] from Proto-Germanic *bankô (“slope”), related to Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“shelf”), the source of bench.[5][7] Barnhart notes that the word is not found in Old English, and that Old English hōbanca “couch” is often cited but has no real semantic connection.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A raised ridge or mound of earth: about 1200, in the Ormulum,[4] or about 1200 in the OED.[9]

Semantic evolution

The sloping ground beside a river or lake is from the 14th century,[7] and a hillside from 1362.[9] A shoal or rising ground in the sea, as a sandbank, is from 1605,[9] and a long mass of cloud from before 1626.[9] The verb “to border, confine within a bank” is from 1590;[9][6] “to rise in banks” is by 1870, of an aircraft tilting in a turn from 1911,[5] and in billiards “to play the ball off the cushion” by 1909, from bank-shot.[5] In the north of England bank still means a hill or slope.[10][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a ridge (Ormulum).[4][9]
  • 1362 – a hillside.[9]
  • 1590 – verb, to border with a bank.[9][6]
  • 1605 – a shoal.[9]
  • 1909 – verb, in billiards.[5]
  • 1911 – verb, of an aircraft.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The sloping land beside a river, lake or channel.
  2. A steep natural incline; an artificial embankment.
  3. A piled-up mass, as of snow or clouds.
  4. A raised area of the sea floor; a shoal.
  5. The cushion of a billiard table.

Verb

  1. To border or protect with a bank.
  2. To pile up; to cover a fire so that it burns low.
  3. To tilt an aircraft or vehicle sideways in turning.

Word family

  • embankment
  • sandbank
  • riverbank

bank2 money

Etymology

The financial institution is borrowed from Middle French banque and Italian banca (“bench, table”),[5][4][11] from Medieval Latin banca or bancus,[8] from a Germanic source such as Old High German bank (“bench, moneylender's table”).[5][12] The original idea is the money-changer's table or counter.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The place of business of a money-dealer: 1474, in Caxton's Game and Play of the Chess,[4][9] and 1475 in the phrase the banke de Medicys.[4]

Semantic evolution

A sum of money is from 1515,[9] and an establishment for keeping and lending money from 1482[13] or the 1620s.[5] In games of chance the money held by the dealer or the house is a bank from about 1720.[9][5] The verb “to act as banker” is from 1727–51,[9][4] “to deposit in a bank” from 1833,[5] and “to rely on” from 1884, American colloquial.[5][9] Bank holiday is from 1871.[5] A store of blood or tissue for later use is a bank from the 1930s, first in the United States.[9]

Timeline

  • 1474 – a money-dealer's shop (Caxton).[4][9]
  • 1515 – a sum of money.[9]
  • c. 1720 – the bank in gambling.[9]
  • 1727–51 – verb, to keep a bank.[9][4]
  • 1833 – verb, to deposit in a bank.[5]
  • 1871 – bank holiday.[5]
  • 1884 – bank on, to rely on.[5][9]
  • 1938 – verb, to store blood or tissue.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A business that keeps money for saving or commercial purposes, and invests, lends or exchanges it.
  2. The funds of a gambling establishment or of the dealer in a game.
  3. A supply or store for future use: a blood bank.

Verb

  1. To deposit in a bank.
  2. To do business with a bank, or operate one.
  3. bank on: to rely on.

Word family

  • banker
  • banking
  • bankable
  • bankrupt
  • bank holiday

bank3 row, tier

Etymology

The row is inherited from Middle English banc (“bench”), borrowed from Old French banc (“bench”),[4][12][8] of Germanic origin, akin to Old High German bank and Old English benc, the source of bench.[12][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bench: probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut,[4] or before 1050 in the OED.[9]

Semantic evolution

A seat of justice is from 1275.[9] The bench occupied by the rowers of each oar in a galley is from 1599, a tier of oars from 1614,[9][4] which led to the modern sense “a row”, first of keys on an organ in 1884 and on a typewriter in 1875.[9][4] Merriam-Webster dates the row sense to 1614.[6] In printing, a bank was the table that received printed sheets, from 1565.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – a bench (Layamon).[4]
  • 1275 – a seat of justice.[9]
  • 1599 – a rowers' bench in a galley.[9]
  • 1614 – a tier of oars.[9][6]
  • 1875 – a row of keys on a typewriter.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A set of similar things arranged in a row: a bank of elevators.
  2. A row of keys on a keyboard.
  3. A bench for rowers in a galley; a row of oars.

Verb

  1. To arrange in a row.
  • banco
  • bench
  • banc
  • banquette
  • banquet
  • mountebank
  • bunk

References

  1. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)