Forms: α. 7 tyncall, 89 tinkal, 7 tincal; β. 78 tinkar, 8 tincar. [In form tincal, a. Malay tingkal:Skr. ṭankaṇa; in Pers., Arab., Urdū tankār, tinkār, whence the β-forms and ALTINCAR.] Crude borax, found in lake-deposits in Tibet, Persin, and other Asiatic countries.
α. 1635. in Foster, Crt. Min. E. Ind. Co. (1907), 99. Tyncall [to Mr. Allen].
1678. Phil. Trans., XII. 1050. If any Dross or filth be in the Melting-Pot, they throw in some Tincal, which gathers the dross together.
1762. trans. Buschings Syst. Geog., I. 44. Borax . Its species are a bluish kind called Tinkal, and the proper borax, which is a purified Tinkal and appears white.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp., II. (1818), 371. The borax is dug in large masses from the edges and shallows of the lake . In this stale it is named tincal, and is brought home packed in chests, in masses of adhering crystals, of a grey yellowish, or greenish white colour.
1873. Watts, Fownes Chem. (ed. 11), 341. It is imported in a crude state from the East Indies under the name of tincal.
β. 1678. Phillips (ed. 4), Tinkar, a Chymical word for Borax. Ibid. (1706), (ed. Kersey), Tincar (Arab.), a sort of Nitre, or Salt-peter dug out of the Earth.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 38. 6o Borax. 1. Tinkal or Tinkar.