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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

titre de salaire

15:47 Apr 16, 2019
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Errant question

French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / history/colonialism
French term or phrase: titre de salaire
In this guide aimed at teachers delivering lessons on the history of Africa, one section looks at the colonial regime established by the French and British.

This section looks at the significance of alcohol sales to Africans, including as a source of public revenues. It is said that the colonial authorities "firent de l’alcool un titre de salaire", which I am struggling to interpret.

Here is the full context:
"Les colonisateurs se sont bien sûr empressés d’interdire le commerce, l’importation et l’usage des armes à feu, sauf dans les régions où la chasse était autorisée à certaines périodes de l’année. En revanche, la consommation des boissons alcoolisées ne cessa de croître. Elle était en effet encouragée par les autorités coloniales poussées dans ce sens par les lobbies des fabricants d’alcool en France. Une conférence réunie à Bruxelles en 1892 essaya sans succès d’interdire l’importation d’alcool au Congo. La France, au contraire, mit tout en œuvre pour en augmenter l’importation. Les autorités coloniales firent de l’alcool un titre de salaire. En 1894, la moitié des recettes globales et 95 % des droits de douane du protectorat de la côte du Niger provenaient de l’alcool ; les rentrées publiques fournies par les spiritueux atteignaient près de 2 millions de livres sterling."

xxx
Thomas Miles
France
Local time: 04:43


Summary of answers provided
3 +3(made alcohol a) wage component; a form of emolument
Adrian MM.
4 -2a salary certificate
Francois Boye


Discussion entries: 12





  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
(firent de l’alcool) un titre de salaire
(made alcohol a) wage component; a form of emolument


Explanation:
Thanks to the discussion entrants.

A 'head of salary' might be too close in pronunciation to a 'head of celery'.

The UK Truck Acts - payment in cash-only and not kind - go back to 1831, so might be applicable to the colonial era in point.

Even so, it might be misguided to assume that no tax revenues had been generated by such payment in alcohol, as substitution of the 'fair market value' of goods received in lieu of wages or taken by a trader for his or her own use (Sharkey v Wernher: House of Lords, 1955) is a well-established revenue principle in the UK and no doubt in France - but the rest of the text might provide more clues.

In modern-days tax terms, 'emolument' might be used in the context, the French version of the word usually denoting a notarial, lawyer's or a huissier de justice's fee.

Example sentence(s):
  • PAYMENT OF WAGES Section 1. General ... Repeal of Truck Acts 1831 to 1940 etc. PART II WAGES COUNCILS Scope of operation of wages councils
  • Payments in kind in the place of wages are still taxable. For example, employees will have payments in kind reported on their W-2 form.

    Reference: http://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the/french-word-for-emolume...
    Reference: http://investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/businesses-...
Adrian MM.
Austria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Francois Boye: you never cite French documents.// You assume that documents in French are self-evident, which is not the case. In addition, the UK and France are not copy-cats of one another.
32 mins
  -> That's because I know the history of British tax rules better than I do the French ones. Otherwise, not much point looking up when the precipitous question is closed precipitately http://www.linternaute.fr/expression/langue-francaise/18780/...
agree  Nicolas Gambardella: "a form of emolument" is perfect
2 hrs
agree  Daryo: you are right - it does make sense indirectly.
12 hrs
agree  AllegroTrans: Profiteering perhaps
20 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -2
a salary certificate


Explanation:
D'une manière générale un "titre" peut être défini comme la qualité attachée à la source d'un droit ou un ensemble de droits. Cette source peut se présenter sous la forme d'une disposition légale, ou administrative, ou sous la forme d'une convention ou d'un jugement.

Si dans le langage quotidien, le titre tend à se confondre avec le document qui constitue la preuve de son contenu, il reste que le droit inclus dans le titre ne se confond pas avec sa preuve. Ainsi, si un contrat bail est un titre, en revanche, l'absence d'un écrit concrétisant la preuve des droits qu'il confère, ne signifie pas qu'une personne qui ne dispose pas d'un document écrit se trouve dépourvue de titre : un bail verbal est un titre, la possession qui est un fait matériel, est un "titre".

Source: Dictionnaire Juridique

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 22:43
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 41

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Helen Shiner: How can one turn alcohol into a certificate? / How does your proposed answer relate to the sentence? ‘Firent’ from ‘faire’./The word is 'alcoholic'.
12 mins
  -> Meaning? Only wage earners can afford to drink alcoolic drinks.
disagree  Daryo: "Le cadavre - exquis - boira - le vin - nouveau" does yield interesting results, but is not really the best method for getting the right translation. // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse
11 hrs
  ->  Meaning? Only wage earners can afford to drink alcoolic drinks.
disagree  AllegroTrans: A salary certificate (whatever that is) out of alcohol? Come on....// really? I was always taught that drunkenness used to be the scourge of the unemployed
19 hrs
  ->  Meaning? Only wage earners can afford to drink alcoolic drinks.
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