Etymologically
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cartel

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɑːˈtɛl/ (UK); /kɑɹˈtɛl/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French cartel (“letter of defiance”),[2][3][4][5] from Italian cartello (“placard, poster”),[6][2][3][4][5] a diminutive of carta “paper, card”,[2][3][4] from Latin charta (“paper, papyrus”).[6][2] The business sense came through German Kartell, itself from French.[6][2][3][7] It is related to card and chart.[6][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A written challenge, a letter of defiance (1560; 1550s in Etymonline).[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

A paper with writing on it could carry a challenge to a duel, and that was the first English sense.[7][2][5] From the 1690s it also meant a written agreement between states at war, especially for exchanging prisoners.[3][7][4] In the 1880s it was used for a political coalition in Germany,[7] and around 1900 it took, via German Kartell, its modern sense of an association of businesses formed to fix prices or limit competition.[3][2][7] The older American word for this was trust.[3]

Timeline

  • 1560 – a written challenge.[7][2]
  • 1590 – a slanderous writing (obsolete).[7]
  • 1692 – an agreement for the exchange of prisoners.[7][4]
  • 1889 – a German political coalition.[7]
  • 1902 – an association of businesses regulating output and prices.[7][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An association of independent businesses formed to control production, prices or marketing and to limit competition.
  2. An official agreement between nations at war, especially for the exchange of prisoners.
  3. A coalition of political parties or groups united in a common cause.
  4. A written challenge to a duel.

Word family

  • cartelism
  • cartelist
  • cartelize
  • card
  • chart
  • charter
  • trust

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press