gabelle

English

Etymology

From Middle French gabelle.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡaˈbɛl/

Noun

gabelle (plural gabelles)

1. A tax; especially, the tax on salt levied in pre-Revolutionary France.
   • 1998, William Caferro, Mercenary Companies and the Decline of Siena, p. 150:

     The proceeds of the gabelle on retail wine were pledged directly to repayment of the forced loans imposed during Baumgarten and Sterz's raid in 1364.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 143:

     Salt, for example, was a state monopoly, and the tax on it – the much-detested gabelle – was levied at six different levels in the various regions [...].

Anagrams

• gelable

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French

Etymology

From Italian gabella, from Arabic قَبَالَة‏ (qabāla, “bail, guaranty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡa.bɛl/

Noun

gabelle f (plural gabelles)

1. (historical) gabelle, salt tax

Further reading

• “gabelle” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Noun

gabelle f

1. plural of gabella