bankrupt English · revision 33

+ ==Etymology==

+ Recorded from the 1530s as a noun, “insolvent person”,^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) and from the 1560s as an adjective.^(Etymonline) In the 16th century it appears as ''banke rota'' and ''banqueroute'',^(OED 1989) [[bor|it|banca rotta|t=broken bench]] and its adaptation [[fr|banqueroute]],^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) from ''banca'' “moneylender's bench” (see [[bank]]) + ''rotta'' “broken”,^(Etymonline)^(AHD) from Latin ''rupta'', feminine past participle of [[la|rumpere|t=to break]].^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) The second element was later remodelled on Latin ''ruptus''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

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+ The name is said to come from an old custom of breaking the bench of a bankrupt moneylender,^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) but the allusion is probably figurative.^(Etymonline)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}