Origin
The origin of the word bank is originally a Germanic word
that refers to a Bench. This word was then borrowed around 1150-1200 in the
Middle English era and written as ‘banke’. This meaning was then adapted to mean
the area around an area of water such as rivers. This could be because the
original meaning was bench which is thought to be translated as ‘things in a
row’ The river banks would be the row next to the sea so perhaps this is where
this connotation had come from.. Hence the term ‘Riverbank’ we hear today. Gradually
the word banke was becoming a word that could help describe a raised waterbed
hence the name, ‘sandbank’ or ‘mudbank’.
However in 1425-75 benches were being used as table that
people who were lending money or exchanging items. As the original Germanic translation
meant bench, the word ‘banke’ in use in English at that time, had broadened its
meaning as this was becoming a common word related to a place where money would
be taken or given. This then has developed
into the bank that we now know today that give out loans and where we can
deposit money. Equally this could be the reason why in board games, such as
monopoly, why there is one person who looks after the money or tokens and they
are called the banker.
NGram
This
shows the pecentage of times the word ‘bank’ was used in books at certain
times.
This
graph helps show this broadening over time as the pecentage and line are getting
higher as the time goes one. As you can
see there are small spikes from 1500 to 1700 but its after 1700 that the word
gets used drastically more. One reason
why this may of happpened is because it was toward the end of the 1700s that
the industrial revolution happened so there would be more people in work and
having an income. This could mean that keeping money in a bank could have
become more popoular at this time. But equally the spike may have occurred as
the printing press and books genrerally were getting easily published. These could have been part of the reasons
combined with the wide range of meanings that this word has.
Phrases
‘Break the bank’- This term was first
used in the 1600s and this was used when someone who was gambling had won more
than the banker could pay. This phrase has been used since this time however
this it is now commonly used as a way of persuading someone that something wont
cost much. ‘It wont break the bank to buy this’. Its used in the way that means
that you would still have money if you did something.
‘laugh all the way to the bank’- This is used to
describe someone who has earnt money from something that orginally is thought
less of or worthless. One example that is ‘ I don’t like that comedian but he will
laugh all the way to the bank’. It
describes when someone thinks an idea or thing is worthless but someone will be
making money from it. Hence the laughing to the bank. This phrases can also be
used as ‘ cried all the way to the bank’ to mean the opposite.
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