Merchant tax
Definition
A minor office, guild, or historical tax paid by grocers (bacali) in the Romanian Principalities during the Ottoman and Phanariot eras; the term also designated the monopoly or exclusive retail trade right over food and colonial products within a certain market town or urban sector administered by a local authority.
Bilingual Equivalents
- Merchant tax
- Trade monopoly
Grammatical & Source Details
| Inflection Type | Neuter noun, regular plural structural variations with standard dative endings. |
| Formation | Loanword from Turkish denoting the trade profession or tax system of a bakkal, integrated during the administrative Ottoman period. |
| Spelling / Pronunciation | [ba.ka.ˈlɨm] |
| Source | Lexicon of Archaic Financial Systems and Balkan Legal History |
Contextual Usage Examples
RO: Fiecare negustor din breaslă trebuia să plătească acest bacalâm la vistierie înainte de deschiderea iarmarocului.
EN: Each merchant in the guild had to pay this trade tax to the treasury before the opening of the annual fair.
RO: Vornicul a emis un hrisov prin care întărea dreptul de bacalâm pentru comercianții creștini din oraș.
EN: The vornic issued an official decree confirming the grocery monopoly right for the Christian merchants in the city.
RO: În hărțile administrative vechi, acest bir numit bacalâm figura ca o sursă importantă de venit public.
EN: In old administrative maps, this tax called bacalâm appeared as an important source of public revenue.
Idioms & Phrases
Drept de bacalâm / Retail monopoly right
RO: Privilegiu domnesc acordat unui negustor sau unei bresle de a vinde în exclusivitate mărfuri coloniale într-un ținut.
EN: A princely privilege granted to a merchant or guild to exclusively sell colonial goods within a territory.
Birul de bacalâm / Grocer guild tribute
RO: Sumă fixă de bani colectată anual de la proprietarii de prăvălii alimentare pentru întreținerea drumurilor comerciale.
EN: A fixed sum of money collected annually from grocery shop owners for the maintenance of commercial trade roads.
Condică de bacalâm / Tax ledger / register
RO: Registru istoric în care slujbașii domnești notau plățile și amenzile aplicate comercianților de alimente.
EN: A historical register in which princely officials recorded payments and fines applied to food merchants.
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