ban

ban¹ money; coin; one hundredth of a leu

Pronunciation

• /ban/^[1]

Forms

ban m (plural bani)^[1]

Etymology

The origin of the word for money and coin is disputed, and DEX calls it unknown.^[2] DELR and Tiktin think it most likely the title of homograph 2, applied to the coins struck in the 13th century by the bans of Croatia and Slavonia under the Hungarian crown, which circulated widely in Hungary after the Mongol invasion of 1241.^[3] Medieval Latin called them denarius banalis.^[3][4] Tamás and Scriban hold the same view, and Ungureanu points to Serbo-Croatian banovac, a Croatian coin.^[5][6][7] Hasdeu linked the coin to the ban of Oltenia instead, but that official struck no coins of his own.^[3]

Ciorănescu prefers Medieval Latin bannus, a Germanic word meaning “proclamation” and later “fine, levy”, which he thinks reached Romanian through Hungarian.^[8][3] Miklosich took it from Slavic, while Cihac, the DA and Capidan derived the Bulgarian and Old Polish words from Romanian.^[8] Pușcariu, in the DA, proposed a pre-Roman root meaning “life”, seen in Aromanian băna (“to live”), with a shift “life” > “livestock” > “money”.^[9][3] Ciorănescu finds this too ingenious.^[8][9][3] The word also exists south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian bani.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Wallachian document of 1413, with the sense “coin”; in Romanian texts it appears in a Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of 1551–1553.^[3][4] MDA2 cites it first from the New Testament of 1648.^[10]

Semantic evolution

At first the name of a particular coin, the ban later became a unit of account by which other coins were valued; the Turkish para took its place as the unit of coinage.^[4] Its value varied: about 1/200 of a gold ducat in the 17th century, 1/120 of an old leu in the early 19th.^[8] Since the monetary law of 1867 it has been one hundredth of a leu.^[4][8] In the plural, bani came to mean money in general, cash and wealth.^[2][8]

Romanian made many derivatives: bănărie “mint” (1715), bănesc “monetary”, bănet “a lot of money” and bănos “lucrative” (all 1691–1697), and bănuț “small coin”, also the name of several plants (1759–1765).^[3] The word passed into Hungarian as bány (“coin”), into Polish as ban, and Bulgarian бан (ban) names the Romanian coin.^[8][11][1]

Timeline

• 1413 – a Wallachian document, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1551-1553 – first in a Romanian text, a Slavonic–Romanian Gospel.^[3]
• c. 1650 – the verb băni “to mint coins” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[3]
• 1691-1697 – bănesc, bănet and bănos in Corbea's dictionary.^[3]
• 1867 – the ban becomes one hundredth of a leu.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a leu; by extension, a small coin of little value.^[2][1]
2. (in the plural) money, cash, wealth. ^[2][12][1]

Word family

• bănesc
• bănește
• bănet
• bănos
• bănuț
• bănuțel
• bănișor
• bănărie
• bănică

ban² ban, governor of Oltenia

Pronunciation

• /ban/^[1]

Forms

ban m (plural bani)^[1]

Etymology

The title is borrowed from Hungarian bán, which Hungarian has from Serbo-Croatian ban.^[3][4][13] Ciorănescu and the DA give the Hungarian source as probable; others, Cihac among them, take it directly from Old Serbian or Old Church Slavonic банъ (banŭ).^[3][8][9] The title was first borne by the governors of Croatia; it is recorded in the 10th century by Constantine Porphyrogenitus as Byzantine Greek βοάνος (boános) and in the 11th century in Latin as Medieval Latin banus.^[3] It is probably Avar: compare Bayan, the name of a khagan of the Avars, and Mongolian баян (bajan, “rich”).^[3][8] The Hungarian word appears in Latin texts in 1116, and on its own in 1146.^[13]

The use for the governor of Oltenia goes back to the Banate of Severin, a Hungarian province held for a time by the princes of Wallachia.^[3][9] Hasdeu derived it from Cuman, Scriban from an Old Germanic word for “command”, and Laurian and Massim from a supposed Latin word for “rich in cattle”.^[3] DELR lists these older views without accepting them.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record, uncertain, is Radul ban in a Wallachian charter of 1389–1400; the form banul appears in 1520, and in Romanian texts the word is found from 1591–1600.^[3] Tiktin dates it to 1298, and notes the Latin title “Banus de Zevrino” of Vladislav of Wallachia in 1368.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The princes of Wallachia added the title of ban of Severin in the mid-14th century; in 1511 it became ban of Mehedinți, and soon after ban of Oltenia, or of Craiova.^[8] From the 15th century the prince gave it to the highest dignitary of his council, and the mare ban ranked first among the boyars.^[8][2] In Moldavia ban was a lower rank, which from 1705 stood between the spătar and the paharnic.^[4][3] Derivatives include banat “province ruled by a ban” (1730), bănie “the office of ban” (1454–1456) and băneasă “the wife of a ban” (1496).^[3]

Timeline

• 1298 – the first record of the title Tiktin cites, from a document.^[4]
• 1368 – “Banus de Zevrino” in the Latin title of Vladislav of Wallachia.^[4]
• 1389-1400 – Radul ban in a Wallachian charter (uncertain).^[3]
• 1454-1456 – bănie “the office of ban”.^[3]
• 1520 – the form banul.^[3]
• 1591-1600 – first in a Romanian text.^[3]
• 1730 – banat “province ruled by a ban”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) In medieval Wallachia, the title of the governor of Oltenia appointed by the prince; also, as mare ban, the first dignitary among the boyars; in Moldavia, a court office.^[2][12]
2. A person who held this title.^[2]
3. (historical) The governor of a border province of the kingdom of Hungary.^[2][3]

Word family

• banat
• bănie
• bănățean
• băneasă