Date
2009
Indexation documentaire
Contrôle de gestion Comptabilité
Subject
French language; France; Nineteenth century; Accounting; Finance; Words
Code JEL
G32; M41
Nom de la revue
Accounting, Business and Financial History
Volume
19
Numéro
2
Date de publication
2009
Pages article
149-166
Nom de l'éditeur
Routledge
Auteur
Labardin, Pierre
Nikitin, Marc
Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publié
Résumé en anglais
In the French language, the word comptabiliteacute (accounting) first appeared in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was used in the Royal finances and its first meaning was that of accountability. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, or thereabouts, the uses of the word evolved gradually but in a somewhat confused manner. Once its meaning had become stabilised, the growing use of the word by an increasing population and the development of accounting activities created a need for adjectives to be added. Commercial, industrial and agricultural accounting, general and auxiliary accounting appeared, as well as the use of comptabiliteacute to designate the accounting department. In this paper, we examine the evolution of words in the context of the development of accounting, seeking some help from amongst linguists.