RALPH: Bank derives from the latin bancus, which meant a bench where several people could sit. Then it also came to mean the location where benches were commonly found, like a market stall.

SARAH: Over time, the meaning narrowed to refer to a specific type of market stall, one used by money changers or lenders. Thus evolved our current meaning of bank, a financial institution.

RALPH: Rupt derives from the latin verb rumpere, to break.

SARAH: In ancient times, when a money changer could not pay his debts, his angry creditors destroyed his stall, they literally ruptured his bank. 

RALPH: In Shakespeare’s time bankrupt did not just describe someone whose money is exhausted, but was also used figuratively to describe someone whose feelings are exhausted, or emotionally drained.

SARAH: That’s how Juliet is using it to describe her heart.

RALPH: Today we also use the term in a figurative way to refer to a total lack of something important.  For example, we might describe an unscrupulous business practice as being “morally bankrupt.”