Etymology Dictionary

BANKRUPT,  one unable to pay just debts.  (F.)   M.E. bankeroupte, Sir T. More, Works, p. 881 f.   The word has been modified by a knowledge of its relation to the Lat. ruptus, but was originally French rather than Latin.   The true French word, too, was banquerouttier (Cotgrave), formed from banqueroutte, which properly meant 'a breaking or becoming bankrupt;' i.e. bankruptcy.   The latter was introduced into French in the 16th cent. from Ital. banca rotta (Brachet).—Ital. banca, a bench; and rotta, broken.—M.H.G. banc, a bench; and Lat. ruptus, broken, pp. of rumpere, to break.   See Bank (2), and Bench; also Rupture.   ¶ The usual account is that a bankrupt person had his bench (i.e. money-table) broken.