East Ind. Forms: 7 consaorman, 8 chan-, caun-sumaun, consumma, -sumah, (9 -somah), 8–9 khansaman, 9 khaunsaumaun, khansama(h, kansamah. [Urdū (Pers.) khānsāmān, f. khān master, ruler, KHAN1 + sāmān household goods.] In India: A house-steward; a native male servant (usually a Mohammedan), the head of the kitchen and pantry department.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. xxviii. (1705), 39. I met with Camillo your Consaorman here lately.
1759. in R. O. Cambridge, War in India (1761), 231. Order, under the Chan Sumaun, or Steward’s seal. Ibid., 232. Caun Samaun, or Steward to his Majesty.
1776. Trial of Joseph Fowke, 6/1. I put the arzee under the care of the Consumma.
1788. Gladwin, trans. Mem. Khojeh Abdulkurreem, 56. Nadir Shah asked the Khansaman, what quantity was remaining of the clothes that had been brought from Iran to camp for sale.
1813–4. Mrs. Sherwood, Lit. Henry & Bearer, 7. His mamma’s Khaunsaumaun had told him so.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 116. The khansama, or butler, acts the part which, in a moderate English establishment, is acted by the mistress and the cook together.
