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. Marāṭhi 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.
1612. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (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 & Ertr. 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, trans. 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, Quicksilver, Tuthinag and Copper. Ibid., 264. Tuthinage brought from the South-Seas answers in all respects.
1699. 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, Lett., 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.
