muhassil

English

Alternative forms

• mohassil

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish محصل (muhassıl), from Arabic مُحَصِّل (muḥaṣṣil).

Noun

muhassil (plural muhassils)

1. (now historical) A senior public official under the Ottoman Empire charged with tax collection.
   • 1794, Alexander Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo, 2nd edition, volume II, page 22:

     The Mohassil, in return, pays a visit to the Consul, and is received with much pomp and the Consular house.

   • 1870, Andrew Archibald Paton, A History of the Egyptian Revolution, 2nd edition, volume II, page 100:

     Ibrahim Pasha, in addition to being governor of the holy cities, was made, on the 3rd of May, 1833, mohassil, or collector of the revenues of Adana.

   • 1952, George Francis Hill, A History of Cyprus, volume IV, page 75:

     It was a promotion in status, the Pasha being next in rank to the Grand Vezir and therefore more important than a Muhassil; but this was of course no guarantee of better government.

   • 1999, Edhem Eldem, French Trade in Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century, page 127:

     A document sent to Istanbul by the muḥaṣṣıl of Aleppo in the 1790s clearly states that French bills of exchange had been purchased against payment of a ‘premium’ […].