Etymology

The word company is traced from a 1150 A.D.(CE) O.Fr. term compaignie or "body of soldiers" and from L.L. companio (companion). The word's meaning of "subdivision of an infantry regiment" is from 1590. The use of the word in a sense of "business association" was first recorded 1553, having earlier been used in reference to trade guilds (1303). The abbreviation co. dates from 1769