bank The side of a river or a place for money?

bank The side of a river or a place for money?

Meaning the edge of a river or a raised area of ground, bank came into English in the 12th century. It was adapted from Scandinavian words like Swedish backe and Danish banke. In Middle English, bank meant a mound or a shore. Bonk meant mound of earth. One of the best loved references to this type of bank is in Oberon's song in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream:

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine;

There sleeps Titania sometime

The word for a financial institution came into English in the 15th century, adapted from such words as Italian bance and French banque.