bancher

Forms

bancher m (plural bancheri, feminine equivalent bancheră)^[1] The DA records the spelling banchier, which MDA2 and Wiktionary list as a variant.^[2][3][1] Tiktin records a form banghier.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French banquier, with Italian banchiere as a second source, as DELR, DEX and Tiktin give it.^[5][6][4] MDA2 and the DA print the Italian form banchiero, and Wiktionary and CADE name only the French word.^[3][2][1][7] DEXI adds German Bankier to the sources.^[8] Gabinschi takes the Italian word to be itself from French, with the reflex of the Latin suffix -ārius.^[9] The French word is formed on banque (“bank”) with the suffix -ier.^[1] DELR files the word under bancă “bank”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1785, in M. Cantacuzino's travel account, in the sense of the owner of a bank.^[5] Tiktin's first date is 1806.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Scriban glossed the word with the older Oriental loan zaraf “money changer”, and the DA compares it too.^[10][2] In C. Negruzzi's plays (1872) it is the man with whom one keeps money: „banii ce ai la bancher” “the money you have with the banker”.^[2][3] A second sense, the player who holds the bank in a card game, is in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870.^[2][11] The definitions of the 1950s describe the banker as a capitalist who lends his money for interest;^[12][13][6] DEX 2009 has only the owner or main shareholder of a bank.^[12][13][6] Two derivatives are recorded: bancherie “the banker's trade” from 1857, and the adjective bancar from 1877, which is itself a loan from French bancaire and Italian bancario.^[5]

Timeline

• 1785 – first record, in M. Cantacuzino's travel account.^[5]
• 1806 – Tiktin's first record.^[4]
• 1857 – bancherie “banking; a bank” in Polizu's dictionary.^[5]
• 1870 – the card-game sense in Costinescu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1872 – in C. Negruzzi's plays.^[3][2]
• 1877 – the adjective bancar.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A banker: the owner or a major shareholder of a bank; one who lends money or finances businesses for interest or a share of the profit.^[6][3][1]
2. In some card games, the player who runs the game and holds enough money to cover the other players' stakes.^[6][3]

Word family

• bancheră

Related words

• bancă
• bancar
• zaraf

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. bancher
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 162
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. banchér
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. bancher
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 88
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. bancher
8. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. bancher
9. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 68
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 149
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 194
13. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 66