gabelle

See also: gabélle

English

Etymology

From 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, page 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, published 2003, page 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, legable

French

FWOTD – 14 July 2024

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡa.bɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gabelle f (plural gabelles)

1. (historical) gabelle, salt tax
   • 2011, Jean-Yves Paumier, La Bretagne pour les Nuls, page 124:

     Puis à en contrôler la diffusion, avec la création des greniers à sel, qui sont à la fois des depots et des juridictions habilitées à connaître les litiges liés à la gabelle.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “gabelle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaˈbɛl.le/
• Rhymes: -ɛlle
• Hyphenation: ga‧bèl‧le

Noun

gabelle f

1. plural of gabella

Anagrams

• gellabe