Origin of The Word
The name bank derives from the Italian word banco "desk/bench", used during the Renaissance era by Florentine bankers, who used to make their transactions above a desk covered by a green tablecloth. However, traces of banking activity can be found even in ancient times.
In fact, the word traces its origins back to the Ancient Roman Empire, where moneylenders would set up their stalls in the middle of enclosed courtyards called macella on a long bench called a bancu, from which the words banco and bank are derived. As a moneychanger, the merchant at the bancu did not so much invest money as merely convert the foreign currency into the only legal tender in Rome – that of the Imperial Mint.
Read more about this topic: Commercial Bank
Other articles related to "origin of the word, the word, words, word":
... The word bank was borrowed in Middle English from Middle French banque, from Old Italian banca, from Old High German banc, bank "bench, counter" ... In fact, even today in Modern Greek the word Trapeza (Τράπεζα) means both a table and a bank ... Another possible origin of the word is from the Sanskrit words (ब्यय) 'byaya' (expense) and 'onka' (calculation) = byaya-onka ...
... This name may be derived from the Sanskrit word Chaturanga or Persian word Chatrang ... The Sanskrit word Chaturanga has a direct meaning "having four limbs" ...
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