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I stumbled upon this word in one of my anthropology readings. Here's the excerpt.

The robbers were from a tribe which had not yet submitted to French authority and were in open rebellion against it, and he wanted authorization to go with his mezrag-holder, the Marmusha tribal sheikh, to collect the indemnity that, under traditional rules, he had coming to him.

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    There should be some kind of language-like tag here. I'm unsure if language itself is the appropriate one.
    – o0'.
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 9:39
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    Could you add the source for this quote, so that one can judge about the region and time period, which are likely the key to an answer.
    – Roger V.
    Commented May 23 at 6:16

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This has been answered with a comment on English.SE:

mezrag seems to be a primitive barter/trade-pact custom, so this tribal sheikh is effectively someone acting in a "ceremonial" role ensuring the rules are followed. An honest broker, is my guess. Or maybe he's just the guy that looks after all the loot/danegeld our hero has collected. – FumbleFingers

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