English

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 [...].

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

Italian

Noun

gabelle f

1. plural of gabella