gabelle

American  

[guh-bel] / gəˈbɛl /

noun

1. a tax; excise.

2. French History. a tax on salt, abolished in 1790.

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gabelle British  

/ ɡæˈbɛl /

noun

1. French history a salt tax levied until 1790

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Other Word Forms

• gabelled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of gabelle

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English gabul, gabel (probably confused with gavel ² ), from Middle French, from Italian gabella, from Arabic qabālah “tax, receipt”

Explanation

The gabelle was a notoriously hated salt tax in pre-revolutionary France. Not only did it tax salt, it forced people to buy a certain amount of it every week. For centuries, the French government held a monopoly on salt, which was essential for preserving food. The monarchy's gabelle on this basic necessity was enforced at wildly different rates across the country, making it a major grievance against the crown. Salt smuggling became common, and a paramilitary force employed by the government, known as the "Salt Police," or gabelous, fueled deep-seated rage and mass riots. The gabelle was repealed in 1790, not long after the start of the French Revolution in 1789.

Example Sentences

The gabelle, or salt tax, was so high during the reign of Louis XVI that it became a major grievance and eventually helped ignite the French Revolution.

From Time Magazine Archive

So much smuggling, fraud and resistance to the law did the gabelle produce that it took 50,000 officials, police and soldiers, to work it.

From The French Revolution A Short History by Johnston, R. M. (Robert Matteson)

For see! thy faithful service bore This bitter fruit—the cursed gabelle.

From A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 5 by Black, Robert

For standards they bore a loaf stuck on the point of a pike in derision of its tiny size, the result of the gabelle on flour.

From Naples Past and Present by Norway, Arthur H.

On the other hand, their common folk are so crushed down with gabelle, and poll-tax, and every manner of cursed tallage, that the spirit has passed right out of them.

From The White Company by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir