The evolution of the word business has followed a similar path to the evolution of a business.We know that running a business keeps you in a state of busyness. The words business and busyness aren’t closely related although they both originated from the word busy.

Busy (originally bignis) is a very old word according to word connections. It existed in Old English and Dutch but nowhere else.  

The Online Etymological Dictionary suggests that business (bisignisse) evolved in the north of England and that its original meaning, perhaps unsurprisingly, was anxiety; anxious having been one of the meanings of busy.

The meaning of business diverged in the 14th-15^th centuries into being busy, and one’s work or occupation.

The sense of business as a trade and commercial entity appeared in the 18^th century (in the 17^th busy was a euphemism for being sexually active).

In the 19^th and 20^th centuries, business came to mean quite a few things.

So what does this mean for the business-person? You start off anxious, get busy, work hard, develop an occupation or trade, hope you don’t get screwed and, perhaps, after a very long time you might be successful.