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avania. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
avania, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
avania in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
avania you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian avania, from Byzantine Greek ἀβανία (abanía, cfr. modern Greek αβανιά (avaniá) “defamation, slander”), possibly from Arabic خَوَّان (ḵawwān, “unreliable, treacherous”).
Pronunciation
Noun
avania (plural avanias)
- (historical) A tax or fee imposed on foreigners under the Ottoman Empire, especially one considered to be irregular or extortionate.
1794, Alex Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo, 2nd edition, page 330:The merchants are considered as more immediately under the protection of the Mohassil, and therefore not so subject to the Avanias made by the Bashaw.
1846, Julia Pardoe, Miss Pardoe's Complete Works, page 55:“Khoja,” said the pasha, slowly, removing the chibouque from his mouth, and looking towards the secretary; “write that Yacob the Jew shall, before sunset, pay an avania to the pasha of one hundred piastres, for selling dhourra within the walls of the city, without authority—now Hebrew, once more we listen.”
1935, Alfred C. Wood, A History of the Levant Company, page 63:Ten years later, as they told their ambassador at Constantinople, Sir Thomas Bendysh, they were still loth to meddle in those ‘barbarous places’ because of the ever-present hazard of avanias.
2000, Merlijn Olnon, ‘Towards Classifying Avanias’, Friend and Rivals in the East, page 162:The Europeans often felt that these practices went against the capitulations, and considered them extortions – which they called avanias.
Translations
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from Byzantine Greek ἀβανία (abanía), possibly from Arabic خَوَّان (ḵawwān, “unreliable, treacherous”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.vaˈni.a/
- Rhymes: -ia
- Hyphenation: a‧va‧nì‧a
Noun
avania f (plural avanie)
- (historical) avania (fee imposed by Ottomans)
- (dated, by extension) any unfair tax
- Synonyms: balzello m, gabella f
- Hypernyms: dazio m, imposta f, tassa f
- (dated, figuratively) harassment, abuse, prevarication
- Synonyms: angheria f, prepotenza f, prevaricazione f, sopraffazione f, (rare) soverchieria f, sopruso m, vessazione f