[1675.—"Cawn." See under [GINGI].]
b. Pers. khān. A public building for the accommodation of travellers, a caravanserai. [The word appears in English as early as about 1400; see Stanf. Dict. s.v.]
1653.—"Han est vn Serrail ou enclos que les Arabes appellent fondoux où se retirent les Carauanes, ou les Marchands Estrangers, ... ce mot de Han est Turq, et est le mesme que Kiarauansarai ou Karbasara (see [CARAVANSERAY]) dont parle Belon...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 540.
1827.—"He lost all hope, being informed by his late fellow-traveller, whom he found at the Khan, that the Nuwaub was absent on a secret expedition."—W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiii.
KHANNA, CONNAH, &c. s. This term (Pers. khāna, 'a house, a compartment, apartment, department, receptacle,' &c.) is used almost ad libitum in India in composition, sometimes with most incongruous words, as bobachee (for bāwarchī) connah, 'cook-house,' buggy-connah, 'buggy, or coach-house,' bottle-khanna, [tosha-khana] (q.v.), &c. &c.
1784.—"The house, cook-room, bottle-connah, godown, &c., are all pucka built."—In Seton-Karr, i. 41.
KHANSAMA. See [CONSUMAH].
KHANUM, s. Turki, through Pers. khānum and khānim, a lady of rank; the feminine of the title [Khān], a (q.v.)
1404.—"... la mayor delles avia nõbre Cañon, que quiere dezir Reyna, o Señora grande."—Clavijo, f. 52v.
" "The great wall and tents were for the use of the chief wife of the Lord, who was called Caño, and the other was for the second wife, called Quinchi Caño, which means 'the little lady.'"—Markham's Clavijo, 145.