Etymology of the Word Entrepreneur
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This is part of my Series on Entrepreneurial Culture.
I was actually thinking about the word entrepreneur
itself recently and found this entry from Wikipedia interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur
“…The word "entrepreneur" is a loanword from
French. In French the verb "entreprendre" means "to undertake,"
with "entre" coming from the Latin word meaning "between,"
and "prendre" meaning "to take." .... Entreprenuer also
sounds close to a sanskrit word anthaprerna which means self motivation.”
One can sometimes learn a lot from the root etymologies
of words. This one seems to boil it down to its essence quite well doesn't it?
Entrepreneurs evidently “undertake” things and they are “self-motivated”. It’s
quite an elegant word as well. Entrepreneur. Sounds better than under-taker.
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Can't be true. There is no word for 'entrepreneur' in French. George W. Bush said so. :-)
Posted by: Stephen Fleming | 05/11/2009 at 11:33 AM
Self-motivation is the main thing that drives us and generates this feeling of "entrepreneurship" in us. Without a drive from the inside, it cannot be manifested externally however hard we try.
Posted by: Eveerything Counts | 06/03/2009 at 12:11 AM