Warren's "translation" of Samuel Johnson's dictionary definition of "economy" more or less matches the starting point of Kirzner's "The Economic Point of View," to which Sam Bostaph referred us. Kirzner has nothing to say about the early definitions. But his framing of the history of "what economics should be" beginnning in the late 19th century is a true history of economic thought, as opposed to a history of how people have used the words "economic." Like Sam, I highly recommend it for those interested in a more international viewpoint of the history.

Kirzner goes beyond the idea of economics as a science of wealth to the (non-mathematical neoclassical?) view that economics is the science of choice and action under certain conditions.

http://www.econlib.org/library/NPDBooks/Kirzner/krzPV.html 

Pat Gunning