bancă

bancă¹ bench

Etymology tree of bancă¹

inherited borrowed derived

Italian banca

French banque

Romanian bancă

Forms

bancă f (plural bănci)^[1] An older neuter banc, made after French, occurs in Negruzzi: „Pe bancul acela, lângă câțiva lorzi englezi, șade generalul rus” “on that bench, beside a few English lords, sits the Russian general”.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the bench is borrowed from Italian banca (“bench”), the source DELR and DA prefer.^[3][2] In Transylvania German Bank (“bench”) contributed too, which kept the feminine gender, as DELR, DA and Tiktin note.^[3][4] DEX, DLRM and Wiktionary derive it from French banc.^[5][1] DELR accepts French only for the variant banc, and Graur pointed out that a French source does not explain the feminine ending.^[3][6] Graur himself looked for an intermediary nearer Romanian and preferred Greek, with μπάνκα (bánka) or μπάγκα (bánga);^[6][3] DELR records Modern Greek μπάνκος (bánkos) as another proposal.^[6][3]

The Italian word is an old Germanic loan, perhaps of Late Latin date, for a piece of furniture the Romans did not have: a bench fixed along a wall.^[3] DELI takes it from a Germanic collective Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench”), and Wiktionary names the Lombardic word as the donor.^[7][1] The same Germanic word gave the French one, through a popular Latin form.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from about 1830, and DELR dates the word to about 1832, in I. Golescu's Condica.^[4][3] MDA2's first record is Negruzzi's writings, published in 1872.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Beside the long seat for several people, the word soon named the school bench, and the phrase pe băncile școlii “at school” goes with it.^[5][9] Parliament and the courts gave set phrases: banca ministerială for the seats of the government, banca acuzaților and banca apărării for the dock and the seats of the defence.^[5] A sta în banca sa “to stay in one's place” means to keep passive.^[5] In crafts the word was used for a workbench, after German Bank.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1830 – the first record.^[4]
• c. 1832 – in I. Golescu's Condica.^[3]
• 1837 – the derivative banchetă “low bench”.^[3]
• 1862 – the diminutive băncuță.^[3]
• 1872 – the variant banc in Negruzzi's collected writings.^[9][2]
• 1892 – the diminutive bănculiță in Delavrancea.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bench, a long narrow seat for two or more people.^[5][1]
2. A school desk, a bench with a desk in front for pupils.^[5][9]

Word family

• banchetă
• băncuță
• bănculiță

bancă² bank (financial institution)

Etymology tree of bancă²

inherited borrowed derived

Italian banca

French banque

Romanian bancă

Forms

bancă f (plural bănci)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the financial institution is borrowed from Italian banca (“bank”), with French banque as a second model, as DEX and Wiktionary give it.^[5][1][10] DELR adds Modern Greek μπάνκα (bánka), itself from Italian, and takes the older variant banc from Modern Greek μπάγκος (bángos), German Bank or the French word.^[11] DA derives it from the Italian word alone, while Tiktin names Italian, French and German.^[2][4] Graur held that the first forms came from Greek, with /g/: the popular bangă and bangher “banker” point to μπάγκα (bánga) and μπαγκιέρης (bankiéris), and the forms with /k/ came later with Western influence.^[6]

The Italian word is the same as the one for the bench: its sense “bank” grew from “counter, stall”, the bench at which the money changers sat.^[11][2] The French word was borrowed from Italian.^[11]

In Megleno-Romanian the word for the bank, bancă, came through Macedonian, Bulgarian or Turkish and through Greek.^[12][13] Aromanian bancu “counter, workbench” comes from the same Greek word as that variant, from Italian banco.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1703.^[4] DELR's first record is of 1788, the variant banc in a text of Inochentie.^[11] MDA2 dates the word to the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825, which glosses bancă as a paper banknote.^[9][15]

Semantic evolution

The sense “banknote” came early: Tiktin quotes „aurul, argintul și chartiele, adecă bancele” “the gold, the silver and the papers, that is, the banknotes”.^[4] A document of 1848 in the Uricariul speaks of capital put out at interest „în bănci străine” “in foreign banks”.^[2] At card games the bank is the money the dealer holds against the other players, with the idioms a sparge banca and a sări banca “to break the bank”.^[5][2] Recent compounds are bancă de organe “organ bank” and bancă de date “data bank”.^[5][16]

банка (banka), recorded from 1852, may have been borrowed from the Romanian word or from Italian.^[17]

Timeline

• 1703 – the first record.^[4]
• 1785 – bancher “banker” in M. Cantacuzino.^[11]
• 1788 – the variant banc in Inochentie.^[11]
• 1825 – bancă “banknote” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15][9]
• 1848 – bănci străine “foreign banks” in a document of the Uricariul.^[2]
• 1877 – the adjective bancar “of banks”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bank, a financial institution that takes deposits and lends money: Am deschis un cont la bancă.^[5][1]
2. A store kept for later use: bancă de organe “organ bank”, bancă de date “data bank”.^[5][9]
3. At some card games, the sum the dealer holds to pay the other players' winnings.^[5]
4. (dated) A banknote.^[9][2]

Word family

• bancar
• bancher
• bancherie
• banco
• bancomat
• interbancar