fanam

English

Old fanam coin with American penny for scale

A Travancore fanam issued by the local king Bala Rama Varma in 1941, 1116 in the Kollam era Malayalam calendar

Etymology

From Malayalam പണം (paṇaṁ).

Noun

fanam (plural fanams)

1. (historical) A former currency in southern India.
   • 1907, John Biddulph, The Pirates of Malabar, and An Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago‎^[1]:

     The Carwar factory chief replied that the effects had realized 13,146 rupees 1 fanam and 12 budgerooks; that Harvey had left a will dated the 8th April, 1708, and that therefore nothing had been paid to Mrs. Chown.

   • 1899, J. F. A. McNair, Prisoners Their Own Warders‎^[2]:

     The captors have claimed and obtained from the local authorities the promised reward of one hundred dollars, besides having sold the flesh of the animal itself to the Chinese, Klings, and others for six fanams a catty (a fanam is about three halfpence), by which they realized about seventy dollars more."

   • 1811, William Marsden, The History of Sumatra‎^[3]:

     It is now reduced to one fanam, or fifty per cent per annum, and no person is to receive more, under penalty of fine, according to the circumstances of the case.

Alternative forms

• fanham, fanom, panam

Coordinate terms

• (Madras coin): cash (1/80 fanam), half-dodee (1/16 fanam), dodee (1/8 fanam), pice (1/4 fanam), pagoda (42 fanams)
• (Travancore coin): cash (1/64 fanam), chakram (1/4 fanam), rupee (7 fanams)

Translations

former Indian currency

• French: fanon (fr) m, fanons (fr) pl
• Malayalam: പണം (ml) (paṇaṁ)
• Tamil: பணம் (ta) (paṇam)

Galician

Verb

fanam

1. (reintegrationist norm) third-person plural present indicative of fanar