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The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank.
PEONAGE [1 record]
Record 1 - internal organization data 2011-01-13
Record 1, English
Record 1, Subject field(s)
- Neology and Linguistic Borrowing
Record 1, Main entry term, English
- debt peonage 1, record 1, English, debt%20peonage
Record 1, Abbreviations, English
Record 1, Synonyms, English
Record 1, Textual support, English
Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 DEF
Servitude resulting from inability to pay debts. Translation: péonage. The word péon appeared in French before 1880 as a borrowing from Spanish. Petit Robert (p. 1397) gives "paysan pauvre (qui n'a pas de cheval); the notion of poverty can be captured in one term. 1, record 1, English, - debt%20peonage
Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 OBS
A syntagma that uses the noun debt and the derivative peonage (peon, noun, borrowing from Spanish; -age, combining form). The term refers to the poor agricultural workers of Brazil who are semi-slaves of the landowners. 1, record 1, English, - debt%20peonage
Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 CONT
As late as 1960, millions of workers were subject to so-called debt peonage: forced to buy food and other necessities from their employers at prices that exceeded their wages, they remained in penury forever. 2, record 1, English, - debt%20peonage
Record number: 1, Textual support number: 2 OBS
This social neologism is a pleonasm, since the accepted meaning of peonage incorporates the notion of semi-slavery due to inability to pay debts. Random House gives for peonage: 2. The practice of holding persons in servitude or partial slavery, as to work off a debt. (p. 1677). Debt peonage, therefore, will join free gift among the many pleonasms in our language. 1, record 1, English, - debt%20peonage
Record 1, Key term(s)
- peonage
Record 1, French
Record 1, Domaine(s)
- Néologie et emprunts
Record 1, Main entry term, French
- péonage
1, record 1, French, p%C3%A9onage
masculine noun
Record 1, Abbreviations, French
Record 1, Synonyms, French
Record 1, Textual support, French
Record 1, Spanish
Record 1, Textual support, Spanish
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