Forms: α. 7 tyncall, 8–9 tinkal, 7– tincal; β. 7–8 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.

1

  α.  1635.  in Foster, Crt. Min. E. Ind. Co. (1907), 99. Tyncall [to Mr. Allen].

2

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.

3

1762.  trans. Busching’s 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.

4

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.

5

1873.  Watts, Fownes’ Chem. (ed. 11), 341. It is imported in a crude state from the East Indies under the name of tincal.

6

  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.

7

1756.  P. Browne, Jamaica, 38. 6o Borax. 1. … Tinkal or Tinkar.

8