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The term "entrepreneur" has a fascinating etymology and has been used 
in a variety of ways throughout the history of economic thought. 
 
 
Adam Smith used "adventurer," "undertaker," and "projector" because 
entrepreneur wasn't an English word in his time.   
 
 
As for the way the term has been used, the entrepreneur has played 
vital roles in the work of Cantillon, Say, Knight, Schumpeter, and 
Kirzner, among others.   
 
 
A while ago I was extremely interested in this topic and I wrote a book 
titled, The Entrepreneur in Microeconomic Theory: Disappearance and 
Explanation.  I tried to present alternative uses for the entrepreneur 
in the history of economics and make the case that modern, neoclassical 
economic theory doesn't need an entrepreneur because of its emphasis on 
static resource allocation problems.   Of course, there are many other 
sources, including, for example, Mark Casson's The Entrepreneur.  
 
 
It's a fun and interesting word that leads in many different 
directions. 
 
Humberto Barreto 
Wabash College 
 
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