[Ads-l] Media request: Why are bank locations called branches?

Wed Oct 18 07:21:20 UTC 2023

A natural first step is to determine what the Oxford English
Dictionary has to say on the topic. The entry for "branch" mentions
the pertinent figurative sense with citations beginning in 1817.

[Begin excerpt from OED]
branch NOUN
II. Figurative applications suggested by the relation of a branch to the tree.

II.9. A local office of business, subordinate to the main or head
office, as the ‘branch’ of a bank or other establishment.

1817 This London Union Society..establishing branches and affiliations.
Petition in Parliamentary Debates 1st Series 215

1875 Important banks, each possessing numerous branches.
W. S. Jevons, Money (1878) 257
[End excerpt from OED]

Thomas Wycliffe published an essay in 1779 in which he proposed the
creation of a set of branches for a bank-like organization that would
be closely related to the government. Citizens would be able to
"safely lodge their wealth" in these branches.

Date: 1786 (Pertinent article first published in 1779)
Book Title: On Government; Addressed To the Public
Author: Thomas Wycliffe
Publication Location: Liverpool, England
Section: On the Internal Government of Great Britain (First Published 1779)
Start Page 127, Quote Page 150 and 151
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=_a1gAAAAcAAJ&q=%22branches+for%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
... let us next suppose this remaining moderate sum to be spread all
over the kingdom, agreeably to this plan of establishing branches for
the public funds in every county town, which branches would certainly
constitute a great many very convenient repositories of wealth, where
the citizens at large might always safely lodge their wealth, from the
time of acquiring that wealth, to the time of disposing of it in the
purchase of lands or other property, and then, under such regulations,
instead of calling this remaining moderate sum a national evil, and a
national burthen, perhaps it might be more properly called, a national
good and a national blessing.

As to the advantage that government would receive from such an
institution as this, nothing can be plainer, than that by establishing
branches for the circulation of the public funds, in every county town
here mentioned, you would most certainly raise the price of stock, and
improve the public credit, by introducing a great many new purchasers
of stock; who are now discouraged from buying it ...
[End excerpt]

Other early citations I found during a quick and narrow search were
also about bank-like organizations closely associated with the
government. Here is another example:

Year: 1812
Title: The American Review of History and Politics, and General
Repository of Literature and State Papers
Volume 3
Printed for Farrand and Nicholas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Section: Outlines of a Plan for the Regulation of the Circulating
Medium of the United States
Date: April 1812
Start Page 275, Quote Page 290

https://books.google.com/books?id=nC8ZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22These+branches%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
The institution to have a right of establishing branches, wherever
they may think proper. These branches to discount with their own
notes, payable on demand, in national notes, or specie, at their
option.
[End excerpt]

The application of "branch" to components of government was already
established. See the 1712 cite below from the OED:

[Begin excerpt from OED]
branch NOUN
II. Figurative applications suggested by the relation of a branch to the tree.

II.8. A component portion of an organization or system, a part of a
larger unity. branch of the legislature, one of the houses or chambers
into which the legislative body is divided.

1696 The bare Earth..is but one Member or Branch.
W. Whiston, Discourse conc. Mosaick Hist. Creation 11 in New Theory of Earth

1712 A mixt Government, consisting of three Branches.
J. Addison, Spectator No. 287. ¶5
[End excerpt from OED]

Hence, it might be possible that early writers who were describing new
quasi-governmental financial organizations decided to extend one of
the existing senses of "branch" (in the government domain) to apply to
the components of these new financial organizations.

Garson O’Toole

On Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 5:56 PM Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>
> Dear ADS-L members,
>
> Today I received a request from Public radio reporter Janet
> Nguyen for insight as to why bank locations are called
> branches, and with her permission I am sharing her message
> with ads-l.
>
> Would anyone be able to help on this?  Any thoughts would be
> very gratefully received.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> P.S. Here are her two messages to me today:
>
> Hi Professor Cohen,
>
> This is Janet Nguyen, with Marketplace! I hope you have been doing
> well since we last spoke for the piece I wrote on the origins
> of the term check<https://www.marketplace.org/2022/08/05/check-please-but-wait-isnt-it-a-bill/> . I am reaching out to you because I am writing another
> etymology-based piece, this time looking at why bank locations are
> called branches and whether any other businesses use that term
>  (of course, in politics, you have the judicial, legislative and executive
> branches).
>
> I was wondering if you have any insight into this, or know anyone who
> would be able to help. This will be for a written piece on our website,
>  set to be published this Friday. As always, any help would be greatly
>  appreciated. Thank you so much.
>
> Best,
>
> Janet
>
> [Brief follow up]:
>
>  ...And to add one note: I know that other operations also use
> the word branch, like libraries and the YMCA, so would love if
> anyone can either comment on: 1) Why banks are called branches
> 2) Why any organization with a headquarters and separate locations
>  call those non-headquarter locations branches.
>
> Best,
>
> Janet
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org