Handbook of Business Communication

Franz Rainer

2The history of the language of economics and business

1.Introduction

2.Antiquity

3.The Early Middle Ages

4.The High and Late Middle Ages

5.The Renaissance

6.Foreign languages in business in modern times

7.From “Handlungswissenschaft” to Betriebswirtschaftlehre

8.The language of economics from the Mercantilist period to the present

9.Conclusion

1Introduction

To begin a volume about applied linguistics with a chapter on language history may strike the reader as strange. Yet, before turning to more obviously relevant topics, it may be useful to put the language of economics and business briefly into historical perspective. One benefit that the scholar can reap from a historical approach is a heightened awareness of the internal complexity ...