Primage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small extra charge added to freight costs and traditionally paid to the master of a ship for his own benefit
2. An additional sum levied on cargo shipments and historically given to the captain of a vessel as a perk
3. The customary percentage added to the cost of carrying goods by sea, once kept by the ship's commander

Etymology: Primage is a small, old piece of maritime money: the fee a ship's captain was entitled to collect on the cargo, traditionally a set share of the freight charges. The name comes from the English "prime" with the suffix "-age," which in medieval usage formed nouns for a charge, due, or allowance tied to something, as in "passage" or "pilotage." The compound is English-made, so the idea of a captain's fee is older than the word for it. The word's route into English ran through Late Latin "primagium," a term for a first-fruits or first-payment due. The French "primage" came later and borrowed the word back from English usage, so the English form is the earlier of the two.