Medwin, Sketches in Hindoostan, 73.
CHUNÁM, s. Prepared lime; also specially used for fine polished plaster. Forms of this word occur both in Dravidian languages and Hind. In the latter chūnā is from Skt. chūrṇa, 'powder'; in the former it is somewhat uncertain whether the word is, or is not, an old derivative from the Sanskrit. In the first of the following quotations the word used seems taken from the Malayāl. chuṇṇāmba, Tam. shuṇṇāmbu.
1510.—"And they also eat with the said leaves (betel) a certain lime made from oyster shells, which they call cionama."—Varthema, 144.
1563.—"... so that all the names you meet with that are not Portuguese are Malabar; such as betre (betel), chuna, which is lime...."—Garcia, f. 37g.
c. 1610.—"... l'vn porte son éventail, l'autre la boëte d'argent pleine de betel, l'autre une boëte ou il y a du chunan, qui est de la chaux."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 84; [Hak. Soc. ii. 135].
1614.—"Having burnt the great idol into chunah, he mixed the powdered lime with pān leaves, and gave it to the Rājpūts that they might eat the objects of their worship."—Firishta, quoted by Quatremère, Not. et Ext., xiv. 510.
1673.—"The Natives chew it (Betel) with Chinam (Lime of calcined Oyster Shells)."—Fryer, 40.
1687.—"That stores of Brick, Iron, Stones, and Chenam be in readiness to make up any breach."—Madras Consultations, in Wheeler, i. 168.
1689.—"Chinam is Lime made of Cockle-shells, or Lime-stone; and Pawn is the Leaf of a Tree."—Ovington, 123.
1750-60.—"The flooring is generally composed of a kind of loam or stucco, called chunam, being a lime made of burnt shells."—Grose, i. 52.