A fee or tax paid for the maintenance and use of beacons (navigation lights); the system or practice of maintaining beacon lights.
From beacon (Old English 'bæcn' from Germanic roots) + -age (Latin '-aticum' meaning a fee or charge). This medieval term referred to the levies collected to maintain coastal navigation lights.
Beaconage was literally medieval crowdfunding—ship owners had to pay taxes to keep lighthouse fires burning, making it one of history's oldest public utilities funded by a usage fee!
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