The term bankrupt originated in English back in 1533 as banke rupte. It derives from the Italian phrase banca rotta, which literally translates to “broken bench”. In the old days in northern Italy, moneylenders operated from benches in special stalls and would physically break these benches in two when they became insolvent to indicate that they were no longer in business. The word banca is not the origin of bank but is related, tracing back to the Proto-Germanic word bankiz and eventually to the Proto-Indo-European root beg, meaning “to bend”. On the other hand, rotta comes from Latin ruptus, the past participle of rumpere, which means “to break”. This root, hrewp, also gives rise to words like erupt, abrupt, bereave, and rout.
