tutenag
(ˈtjuːtənæg)
Forms: 7 (tintenagall), tutunaga; tutunac, tutanag, -eg, tuthinag(e, 8 tutanague, (tuten-, tutanaque), tutteneg, 9 tuthenag, tutenage, 7– tutenag, tutenague; also 7 (teutenage), totaneg, 8 tootanag, toothenague, -aque, toothanegg (tooth and egg), tootnague (Yule).
[a. Marāṭhī tuttināg (Tamil tuttunāgam, Telugu tuttunāgamu), derived (according to native writers) fr. Skr. tuttha- blue vitriol, sulphate of copper + nāga tin or lead. Hence also Pg. tutanaga, tutenaga, F. toutenague (1723 in Hatz.-Darm.). The early forms in tint- used by Eng., Du., and French writers are difficult to account for.]
A whitish alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel, with a little iron, silver, or arsenic, resembling German silver; said to have been originally imported from China; also used loosely in the Indian trade for zinc.
| 1622 in Foster Eng. Factories in India (1908) II. 135 Tintenagall [sic] not yet paid for. 1668 in J. F. Davis Chinese ii. (1836) I. 47 China commodities, as tutanag, silk, raw and wrought. 1679 in Notes & Extr. Govt. Rec. Fort St. George 31 Oct. (Y.), Dacca is not a good market for Gold, Copper, Lead, Tin, or Tutenague. 1681 Grew Musæum App. 386 Teutenage. A sort of Speltar... Hereof..Vessels are made in Japan, wherein their Thea is brought over. 1684 W. Hedges Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 148 All the Copper and Tutenag which he sold them. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 46 A certain Metal called Tutunac, that looks like Tin, but is much more lovely and fine, and is often taken for Silver. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 86 To China for Sugar, Tea, Porcelane, Laccared Ware, Quick⁓silver, Tuthinag and Copper. Ibid. 264 Tuthinage brought from the South-Seas answers in all respects. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 173 The product of the Country.., besides Rice and other eatables, is Tutaneg, a sort of Tin. 1711 C. Lockyer Trade in India v. 129 Tutanaque is a kind of course Tin in Oblong Pieces five or six to a Pecull. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. l. 223 The subterraneous Grounds were stored with Minerals, as Copper, Quick-silver, Allom, Toothenague, &c. Ibid. 233, 80 Chests of Japon Copper, and some Toothenague that I had weighed off at Canton. 1751 Narr. Trans. Brit. Squadrons E. Indies 20 From Malacca they bring a Metal very like Tin, call'd Toothanegg, and made much Use of for Alloy with Silver in Coining at all the European Settlements. 1754 Smeaton in Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 613 The semi-metallic substance call'd Zink, spelter, or tootanag. 1773 Jos. Wright Let. in Bemrose Life iv. (1885) 27 Four pillar Candlesticks called Tooth & Egg, to be cleaned as silver. 1782–3 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. I. 459 Tin, thus hardened, is the metal now well known in Europe by the name of tutanaque. 1806 Naval Chron. XV. 465 Ballasted with tuthenag or zinc. 1815 W. Phillips Outl. Min. & Geol. (1818) 46 With zinc and iron, copper forms tutenag. 1836 J. F. Davis Chinese I. viii. 316 Teapots..made of tutenague externally, covering earthenware on the inside. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 446/1 Tutenag..is white, resembling silver... Dr. Fyfe found it to consist of—Copper 40·4, Zinc 25·4, Nickel 31·6, Iron 2·6. 1885 Horological Jrnl. Nov. 45/1 note, Tutenage, called Chinese copper..; in India, a name given to pure zinc or spelter. |
| attrib. 1699 J. Ovington Ess. Tea 11 Tea is brought over in round totaneg canisters. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5394/4 Spanish Snuff, in Tutteneg Pots. |