Aulnages

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient tax or duty imposed on the sale of cloth measured by the ell
2. a historical charge levied by officials for the use of specific weights and measures in commerce
3. a former levy used to regulate trade practices concerning fabric measurements and quality standards

Etymology: "Aulnages" is the plural of "aulnage", a term for a levy once charged on cloth in France and its trading territories. The singular goes back to Old French and to the medieval practice of measuring woven cloth against a standard ell, the unit of length that gave the tax its name. Inspectors checked bolts of fabric for correct dimensions and quality, and the fee attached to that inspection was the aulnage. Because the tax was tied to the measuring rod itself, the word carried the idea of officially checked cloth into the system that collected it. The plural form simply refers to the several such duties and their collections, which were managed as a set of regulated charges rather than a single payment.