Etymologically
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banqueroute

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bɑ̃.kʁut/[1]

Forms

banqueroute f (plural banqueroutes)[1] Bancqueroute (1466), bancque rotte (before 1519).[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian bancarotta (15th century), literally “broken bench”,[2][3][4][5][6] from banca (“bench, counter, bank”) and rotta (“broken”), the feminine past participle of rompere (“to break”).[2][7] The name comes from the custom of breaking the bench or counter of a banker who had failed.[2][3][4][7] Wiktionary treats the French form as a calque, banque + route.[1] Sixteenth-century French also adapted it as “banque rompue” and used “rompre banque”, to go bankrupt.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1466 as bancqueroute, for a financial failure.[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

A Lyon ordinance of 1536 orders debtors who ont fait banqueroute to be kept in prison until they pay in full, and Henri III's decree of 1582 distinguishes failures deserving pity from fraudulent ones deserving punishment.[7] In modern law banqueroute is a bankruptcy aggravated by fraud or misconduct, a crime or offence, as distinct from simple faillite.[2][8][5]

The figurative sense “total failure, collapse” is almost as old (before 1519).[2][5] The bankrupt person is a banqueroutier (1536), which replaced banqueroute in that sense.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1466 – Bancqueroute.[2][4]
  • before 1519 – Bancque rotte; figurative “failure”.[2]
  • 1536 – Banqueroutier, and faire banqueroute in a Lyon ordinance.[3][7]
  • 1582 – Fraudulent bankruptcy in a royal decree.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (law) A fraudulent or culpable bankruptcy.[5][8]
  2. A bankruptcy;[1] banqueroute d'État, a state's default on its debts.[5][1]
  3. (figurative) A total failure, collapse.[5][1]

Word family

  • banqueroutier

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 63a
  7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b 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