Dear Deniz,
it is very easy to show that 'science de la richesse" was a synonym of 
political economy in the first half of 19th century, not from "popular 
sources" but just to explain the title of books.
You can check it by yourself if you enter "science, richesse" as word of 
the title in the catalogue of French universities libraries
http://www.sudoc.abes.fr/
see for example  Jean Baptiste Say
Say, J. B. 1826. /Catechisme d'économie politique ou instruction 
familiere qui montre de quelle facon les richesses sont produites, 
distribuées et consommées dans la sociéte: 3. ed. revue par l'auteur, et 
enrichie de nouveaux développemens/.
or another  book by Joseph Garnier
Garnier, Joseph. 1858. /Abrégé des éléments  de l'économie politique: 
ou, Premières notions sur l'organisation de la société, et sur la 
production, la répartition et l'emploi de la richesse individuelle et 
sociale/. Paris: Guillaumin et cie, Garnier frères.
Clearly in Say's book as well as in Garnier'sone,  titles and subtitles 
equate : économie politique and "science de la richesse"
The same hold in the following item  which uses explicitly "science de 
la richesse":
L'économie politique sous le Consulat et l'Empire. Misère de l'économie, 
science de la richesse 
<http://www.sudoc.abes.fr//DB=2.1/SET=6/TTL=31/SHW?FRST=32>
Damamme, Dominique / 1986
Best,
A. A.
professor emeritus


Le 16/06/2015 09:58, Deniz T. Kilincoglu a écrit :
> Dear colleagues,
> I'm trying to trace the source of translating "economics" as "the 
> science of wealth" (and sometimes "the science of the wealth of 
> nations") in late nineteenth-century Ottoman-Turkish.
> Ottoman economists most probably rendered it from French ("la science 
> de la richesse"), from popular sources preceding the 1860s.
> I could find expressions like "l'économie politique est la science de 
> la richesse" in many economic texts from the era, but I'm trying to 
> understand how common it was to use "la science de la richesse" 
> instead of or interchangeably with "l’économie politique" referring to 
> the discipline itself.
> Many thanks in advance for your responses.
> Best,
> Deniz
>
> -- 
> Deniz T. Kilincoglu, PhD
>
> Economics Program
> Middle East Technical University
> Northern Cyprus Campus, T-141
> Kalkanlı, Güzelyurt, KKTC
> via Mersin 10, Turkey
> Telephone: +90 392 661 3017
>
> Just published: */Economics and Capitalism in the Ottoman Empire 
> <http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138854062/>/*, Routledge, 
> 2015.
>