entreprise

Forms

entreprise f (plural entreprises)^[1] Middle French entreprinse (1393), the usual spelling until the 16th century.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman entrepris and entreprinse.^[4]

Etymology

It is the feminine past participle from French entreprendre (“to undertake”) used as a noun.^{[5][6][2][1][7]} The verb is compounded of entre (“between”) and prendre (“to take”),^[5][6] the latter going back to Latin prehendō (“to seize”).^[8] Littré notes that the older language often used emprise in the same sense.^[9]

Italian impresa is a similar formation.^[1] English enterprise was taken from the Old French noun in the early 15th century.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, about 1230 in the romance Chevalier aux deux épées, is isolated and its sense unclear; the TLFi glosses it “fault”,^[5][6] while the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert read it as “difference between two persons” and date it about 1220.^[2][10] The lasting sense, “the act of putting something in hand”, appears about 1393 in the Ménagier de Paris.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Two senses of the 14th century follow from the verb: a military operation (1373), now obsolete, and the act of setting about a task (about 1393), which became the main sense, an undertaking or project.^[6][5] From this came a commercial operation (1699, Fénelon), now gone,^[6][5] and in law the contract by which a contractor undertakes a piece of work, as in mettre à l’entreprise.^[10][9]

From the idea of an action aimed at someone came “an encroachment, an attack” and, in the plural, attempts at seduction (1721, Montesquieu), still in use.^[6][5] In 1798 the Académie records the modern sense, an organisation producing goods or services for the market, a firm,^[5][6] which gave chef d’entreprise and comité d’entreprise^[6] and, in liberal economics, libre entreprise.^[10][11]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – First, isolated record, in the Chevalier aux deux épées.^[5]
• 1373 – A military operation, in Charles V's ordinance on the Admiralty.^[5][6]
• c. 1393 – The act of undertaking something, in the Ménagier de Paris.^[5]
• 1422 – Alain Chartier uses it of a military enterprise.^[5]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the modern spelling entreprise.^[2][3]
• 1699 – Fénelon's Télémaque uses it for a commercial operation.^[5]
• 1721 – Montesquieu's Lettres persanes uses it for an attempt at seduction.^[5]
• 1798 – The Académie records the sense “firm, business”.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An undertaking, a project that one sets out to carry through: une entreprise périlleuse, l’esprit d’entreprise.^[10][11][9]
2. (law) The undertaking by a contractor to do a piece of work on given terms: donner des travaux à l’entreprise.^[10][9]
3. A business, a firm: an organisation producing goods or services for sale: une petite entreprise, chef d’entreprise.^[10][11][1]
4. Libre entreprise: the freedom to set up and run private businesses.^[10][11]
5. (literary, chiefly plural) An attempt at seduction.^[6][5]

Related words

• entrepreneur
• entreprendre
• emprise
• prendre
• Latin prehendō
• English enterprise

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 349b
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)