cartel

English 'cartel' in its political sense was borrowed in the sixteenth century from French cartel, which came from Italian cartello, a diminutive of carta ('card, page'), itself from Latin charta. The business sense arrives separately, borrowed from German Kartell, first used by Eugen Richter in the Reichstag in 1871.

The word started as a small written paper — a card or note — and in its political sense became a formal written agreement between rivals. That same political sense was later borrowed into German as Kartell, where it was repurposed as a metaphor for coordinated business interests, and English then borrowed that new meaning back.

It shares its root with 'chart' and 'card,' both tracing back to Latin charta, the written page that started it all.