banque

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɑ̃k/^[1]

Forms

banque f (plural banques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian banca (“bench; money-changer's counter”) (1458),^[2][3][4][5] which in Italian had come to mean the changer's table in the 14th century and, by extension, the lending house in the 15th.^[5][3] It has the same origin as banco and banc.^[3][5] Wiktionary traces the Italian word to Old High German bank (“bench, counter”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench, counter”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the letters of Louis XI (1458).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word came in when France, after Italy and Flanders, was learning commercial and financial practice; it has kept its basic sense since the money-changer's counter (compare banqueroute), while the institutions it names grew larger and more complex from the 19th century.^[3] It took the usual metonymic senses: the bank's building and staff, banks as a whole, and banking as a trade (être dans la banque).^[3][7] The derivative banquier dates from 1549.^[4] In a 16th-century account a Venetian quack is said to be tenant banque on Saint Mark's Square.^[8]

In gaming (1680) it is the stake held by one player to pay the winners, as in tenir la banque and faire sauter la banque.^[3][4] In the 20th century it took from English bank the sense “store made available to the public”: banque de lait humain (1947), calqued on English Human Milk Bank, and banque du sang (1948), after blood bank.^[3]

Timeline

• 1458 – First record, in the letters of Louis XI.^[6]
• 1549 – Banquier.^[4]
• 1680 – A gaming term.^[3][4]
• 1947 – Banque de lait humain.^[3]
• 1948 – Banque du sang.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Banking, the trade in money and credit: les opérations de banque, être dans la banque.^[7][6]
2. A bank, an institution that holds deposits and grants credit: avoir un compte en banque, la Banque de France, billet de banque, banknote.^[7][1]
3. (gambling) The bank, the stake held by the banker: faire sauter la banque.^[7][3]
4. A store kept available for use: banque du sang, banque des yeux, banque de données, a data bank.^[7][3]

Word family

• débanquer
• banquier

Related words

• banc
• banco
• banqueroute

Usage notes

A separate noun banque, the feminine form of banc, is a technical word (recorded from 1549 and before 1615).^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette