The word cartel comes from the Italian word cartello, which means a "leaf of paper" or "placard", and is itself derived from the Latin charta meaning "card".[9] The Italian word became cartel in Middle French, which was borrowed into English. In English, the word was originally used for a written agreement between warring nations to regulate the treatment and exchange of prisoners[10] from the 1690s onward.[9] From 1899 onwards, the usage of the word became generalized as to meanany intergovernmental agreement between rival nations.[9]