banco

Forms

banco m (plural banchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *bank, the bench that ran round the walls of a room and was fixed to the wooden panelling, which served as its backrest.^[2][3][4] DELI follows Schiaffini and the FEW in this, and adds that the word may have entered spoken Latin already in imperial times, as the spread of Medieval Latin bancalis suggests.^[2] Wiktionary derives it instead from Lombardic bank, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz.^[1]

Nocentini notes that the Germanic word reached Italian twice: as Lombardic *panka, which gave panca, and as the Frankish word, which gave this word and banca.^[3][5][1] The same Germanic word is French banc, Occitan banc, Catalan banc, Spanish banco and Portuguese banco.^[3][5]

The sense of a credit firm arose in Italy and spread from there to other languages.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bonagiunta Orbicciani of Lucca in the middle of the 13th century.^[6][3] The Medieval Latin bancum “bench” is recorded in Calabria in 1224, and DELI dates the Italian sense “long, narrow seat” to Dante.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the bench the word passed to the counter that divides buyers and sellers in a shop (before 1342, Domenico Cavalca), whence sotto banco, “secretly”, recorded as sotto el banco in Savonarola before 1498.^[2] Dante uses di banco in banco for the rows of seats of the blessed in Paradise.^[7][8] The craftsman's workbench is recorded before 1537 (Vannoccio Biringuccio), and banco di prova, the test bench, from 1853, figuratively from 1957.^[2]

The money-changer's table gave the sense “bank” (before 1400, Franco Sacchetti), and Medieval Latin tenere bancum, to work as a banker, appears in Francesco da Barberino in 1314.^[2] The name survives in old institutions such as the Banco di Napoli.^[7] In games of chance banco is the stake of the player who keeps the game (before 1778, Goldoni).^[2][9] From the 15th century it also named a bank of sand (banchi di rena, 1444), then of coral (1865) and of fog (1932).^[2]

Timeline

• 1224 – Medieval Latin bancum “bench” is recorded in Calabria.^[2]
• Mid-13th century – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses banco.^[6][3]
• 1314 – Francesco da Barberino has Medieval Latin tenere bancum “to keep a bank”.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for a shop counter.^[2]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for a bank.^[2][9]
• 1444 – Banchi di rena “sandbanks” appear in a portolan.^[2]
• Before 1537 – Vannoccio Biringuccio uses it for a workbench.^[2]
• Before 1778 – Goldoni uses it for the bank in games of chance.^[2][9]
• 1853 – Banco di prova “test bench” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bench or seat, often joined to a surface for writing or kneeling: banco di scuola, banco della chiesa.^[4][10][11]
2. A seat in parliament or a similar assembly.^[4][11]
3. In a court, the seat of the judge or of the parties: banco degli imputati.^[4][10]
4. A counter in a shop, bar or office.^[4][10]
5. A market stall.^[4]
6. A workbench: banco da falegname.^[4][10]
7. A bank, a credit institution, now chiefly in the names of old banks.^[4][7]
8. (gambling) The bank: the money of the player who keeps the game, or that player: tenere banco.^[4][2]
9. A bank of fog of limited extent.^[4][2]
10. A shoal of fish of one species.^[4]
11. A layer or mass of natural material spreading horizontally: banco di sabbia, a sandbank.^[4][2]
12. (geology) A layer of sediment more than a metre thick.^[4]

Word family

• bancone
• bancale
• banconiere
• banconista
• banchista
• sbancare
• sottobanco
• bancarella
• bancata

Related words

• banca
• panca
• banchetto
• banchiere
• French banc

Usage notes

Ombra di Banco, “Banquo's ghost”, the haunting memory of a crime, comes from Banquo in Shakespeare's Macbeth and was made popular by Manzoni's jesting use of it.^[12][7] It is not this word.^[12][7] Tenere banco also means to dominate a conversation.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 423