corvée

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cor·vée

(kôr-vā′, kôr′vā′)

1. Labor exacted by a local authority for little or no pay or instead of taxes and used especially in the maintenance of roads.

2. A day of unpaid work required of a vassal by a feudal lord.

[French corvée and Middle English corve, both from Old French corovee, from Medieval Latin (opera) corrogāta, (work) requested, neuter pl. of Latin corrogātus, past participle of corrogāre, to summon together : com-, com- + rogāre, to ask; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

corvée

(ˈkɔːveɪ)

1. (Historical Terms) European history a day's unpaid labour owed by a feudal vassal to his lord

2. (Historical Terms) the practice or an instance of forced labour

[C14: from Old French, from Late Latin corrogāta contribution, from Latin corrogāre to collect, from rogāre to ask]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cor•vée

(kɔrˈveɪ)

n.

1. unpaid labor for one day, as on the repair of roads, exacted by a feudal lord.

2. an obligation imposed on inhabitants of a district to perform services, as repair of roads, for little or no pay.

[1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin corrogāta contribution, collection, n. use of feminine of Latin corrogātus, past participle of corrogāre to collect by asking]

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Noun

corvee - unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes

toil, labor, labour - productive work (especially physical work done for wages); "his labor did not require a great deal of skill"

Translations

αγγαρεία

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References in periodicals archive ?

The practice of corvee labour to construct pagodas, bridges, roads and irrigation was common during pre-colonial monarchies (Taylor 2009, pp.

Democratic Deservingness and Self-Reliance in Contemporary Myanmar

A US military occupation (1915-34) brought back corvee labour and introduced bombing from the air, while officials in Washington created the institutions that Haitians would have to live with: the army, above all, which now claims to have the country 'in its hands', was created by an act of the US Congress.

Dominating States and Developments in Occupied Countries

(3) This is very likely related to the greater political and economic power traditionally available to Malays (King 1993:132-134; Miles 1976:143-146), as well as to the fact that while Dayaks were subject to taxes, corvee labour, and even slavery at the hands of the Malay sultanates, Malays living in the same territories were not so treated (Heidhues 2003:27; Davidson 2008:25; Rousseau 1989:46-47).

The Japanese Malay: ethnic categorisation in Southwest Borneo

Their common people are trained in docility by the experience of corvee labour or mass levies, later tax levies, for the construction and maintenance of great public works, first the hydraulic works themselves, then all the roads, fortifications, temples, palaces, all ultimately preserving the great managerial bureaucracy itself.

The rhetoric of "choice" and the arrival of bureaucratic despotism

State control ruined local artisan enterprises and inspired popular uprisings against corvee labour details.

An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750-1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire

The state allocation of the unemployed to unwaged jobs, so undermining existing waged labour, is such an extreme form of labour conscription that it represents a reversion to pre-capitalist corvee labour. As argued above, this is what one can expect from Reith.

AFTER THE JOB NETWORK, THE DELUGE

Corvee labour was used as labour power by the lord in his own agricultural production on a large scale.

Culture and contrasts in a northern European village: lifestyles among manorial peasants in 18th-century Denmark

This chapter demonstrates how the increased pressure on Rwandans to work (pressure based on harsh coercive measures which were justified by the belief that it was good for 'the natives' to 'learn to work', presumably like Europeans were supposed to work) combined with the chiefs' greed, created an intolerable situation of harsh demands in taxes and corvee labour for the average peasant, who during this period were increasingly defined as ethnic Hutu.

The Cohesion of Oppression: Clientship and ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860-1960

The use of forced or corvee labour on public works projects in Egypt probably dates back literally to the construction of the pyramids.

Who abolished corvee labour in Egypt and why?

The VOC even changed the terms of labour service to require corvee labour of landless labourers (numpang, panukang, bojang) and not just of landholders, as had been the case prior to the VOC's conquest of the region.

On Mobilizing Labour for the Global Coffee Market: Profits from an Unfree Work Regime in Colonial Java

This experience was marked by burdensome changes in tax collection and corvee labour, and a steady rise in the level of opium addiction effected by French colonial intervention.