banqueroute French · revision 15649

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1466, bancqueroute}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bɑ̃.kʁut/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''banqueroute''' ''f'' (plural banqueroutes)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Bancqueroute'' (1466), ''bancque rotte'' (before 1519).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|bancarotta]] (15th century), literally “broken bench”,^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|15/1, 63a) from [[m|it|banca|t=bench, counter, bank]] and [[m|it|rotta|t=broken]], the feminine past participle of [[m|it|rompere|t=to break]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) The name comes from the custom of breaking the bench or counter of a banker who had failed.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873) Wiktionary treats the French form as a calque, [[banque]] + [[route]].^(Wiktionary) Sixteenth-century French also adapted it as “banque rompue” and used “rompre banque”, to go bankrupt.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1466 as ''bancqueroute'', for a financial failure.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==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.^(Littré 1873) In modern law ''banqueroute'' is a bankruptcy aggravated by fraud or misconduct, a crime or offence, as distinct from simple ''faillite''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ The figurative sense “total failure, collapse” is almost as old (before 1519).^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The bankrupt person is a ''banqueroutier'' (1536), which replaced ''banqueroute'' in that sense.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1466 – ''Bancqueroute''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * before 1519 – ''Bancque rotte''; figurative “failure”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1536 – ''Banqueroutier'', and ''faire banqueroute'' in a Lyon ordinance.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1582 – Fraudulent bankruptcy in a royal decree.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(law)'' A fraudulent or culpable [[m|en|bankruptcy]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # A bankruptcy;^(Wiktionary) ''banqueroute d'État'', a state's [[m|en|default]] on its debts.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A total failure, collapse.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[banqueroutier]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[banque]]

+ * [[rompre]]

+ * [[en|bankrupt]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}