(_For the Mirror._)
This word is formed from the ancient Latin _bancus_ a _bench_, or
_table_, and _ruptus, broken_. Bank originally signified a bench, which
the first bankers had in the public places, in markets, fairs, &c. on
which they told their money, wrote their bills of exchange, &.c. Hence,
when a banker failed, they broke his bank, to advertise the public that
the person to whom the bank belonged was no longer in a condition to
continue his business. As this practice was very frequent in Italy, it
is said the term bankrupt is derived from the Italian _banco_ rotto,
broken bench. Cowel (in his 4th Institute 227) rather chooses to deduce
the word from the French _banque, table_, and _route, vestigium, trace_,
by metaphor from the sign left in the ground, of a table once fastened
to it and now gone. On this principle he traces the origin of bankrupts
from the ancient Roman _mensarii_ or _argentarii_, who had their
_tabernae_ or _mensae_ in certain public places; and who, when they
fled, or made off with the money that had been entrusted to them, left
only the sign or shadow of their former station behind them.