In Ottoman and Middle Eastern governance, a system where local people were required to provide supplies or services to government officials and armies.
From Turkish/Arabic administrative terminology, possibly related to 'abd' (servant) and '-at' suffix indicating a system or tax. Used in Ottoman Empire bureaucratic records.
The Ottoman Empire had such complex tributary systems that English borrowed specialized terms like 'abdat' to describe obligations that had no direct European equivalent—showing how trade and politics spread technical vocabulary.
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