"raised platform in a fortification," 1620s, from French banquette (15c.), from Italian banchetta, diminutive of banca "bench, shelf," which is from Germanic (see bank (n.1)). A doublet of banquet.
Entries linking to banquette
bank n.1
"financial institution," late 15c., originally "money-dealer's counter or shop," from Old Italian banca and also from French banque (itself from the Italian word), both meaning "table," from a Germanic source (such as Old High German bank "bench, moneylender's table"), from Proto-Germanic *bankiz- "shelf," *bankon- (see bank (n.2)). The etymological notion is of the moneylender's exchange table.
As "institution for receiving and lending money" from 1620s. In games of chance, "the sum of money held by the proprietor or one who plays against the rest," by 1720. Bank holiday is from 1871, though the tradition is as old as the Bank of England. To cry all the way to the bank was coined 1956 by U.S. pianist Liberace, after a Madison Square Garden concert that was panned by critics but packed with patrons.
banquet n.
late 15c., "feast, sumptuous entertainment," from Old French banquet "feast," earlier simply "small bench," from Old Italian banchetto, diminutive of banco "bench," variant of banca "bench," which is from a Germanic source (see bench (n.)). Apparently, etymologically, "a snack eaten on a bench" (rather than at table), hence "a slight repast between meals;" if so, the meaning has drifted.