Banco

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An establishment where financial transactions such as deposits and loans are conducted ; a long, usually wooden seat designed for multiple people to sit on
2. A company or place that deals with money management and banking services ; a piece of furniture made for people to sit together
3. An organization for managing money and providing monetary services ; a simple elongated seat often found in public places or gardens

Etymology: The word "banco" arrived in English from Italian, where "banco" meant a bench or counter, and that bench sense is the key to its story. Italian money-changers in medieval Italy worked at benches set out in the marketplace, and the furniture gave its name to the trade. The same Latin-derived root also gave English "bank" (the institution), "bench" (the seat), and "banc," so the four words are doublets, all descended from one ancestor but reaching English by different routes. The seat sense is the older of the two uses in English, and the financial sense followed from the bench where transactions happened. The word was borrowed into English directly from Italian rather than arriving through French, which is why it keeps its Italian shape. Its best-known appearance is in the legal phrase "in banco," which traces to Latin "in banco," meaning "on the bench." It described a court sitting in full session, with all its judges present, and the phrase kept the old bench image alive in legal usage.

Synonyms: bank, financial institution