Home1842 Edition

BANKER

Volume 4 · 68 words · 1842 Edition

a person who traffics and negotiates in money. The ancient bankers were called argentarii and nummularii; by the Greeks ἀργυροποιοί, καταβάσεις, and ἀγγελοποιοί. Their chief business was to put out the money of private persons to interest. They had their boards and benches for this purpose in all the markets and public places, where they took in the money from some in order to lend it to others.