saffron

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English safroun, also saffran,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French safran,^{[6][2][7][8][3]} from Medieval Latin safrānum,^[8][4][3][5] ultimately from Arabic زعفران (zaʿfarān),^{[6][8][9][10]} a word of unknown origin.^[3][9] The American Heritage Dictionary compares Akkadian azupīru, also of unknown origin.^[8] The Anglo-Norman form is recorded from the early 12th century, for the plant and for the dye and paint made from it.^[11] The Arabic word was also taken unchanged into Turkish, Persian and Hindi,^[6] and the Medieval Latin form is cognate with Italian zafferano and Spanish azafrán.^[3][5] The French word is the source of Middle Low German safferân, Middle Dutch saffraen (now saffraan) and Middle High German saffrân, modern Safran.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The orange-red product made from the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus: about 1200, in the Trinity College Homilies.^[6][3] Barnhart dates the form saffran to probably before 1200.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the spice and dye, and only later the plant: the crocus itself is called saffron from about 1425.^[6][3][7] As a colour word for a deep orange-yellow it is recorded from before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible,^[6][3] and as an adjective from before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's De Proprietatibus Rerum.^[4][2] The verb, to season with saffron, is used by Chaucer in the Pardoner's Tale (about 1386),^[6][12] and since 1593, in Drayton, has also meant to dye or colour with it.^[6] From the 16th century the name was extended to other plants, such as bastard saffron, the safflower, and meadow saffron,^[6][13] while from 1728 Indian saffron was turmeric.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as yellow, having the colour of saffron, quoting Shakespeare's "saffron face".^[14] Ayto notes that the town of Saffron Walden in Essex was named for its saffron-growing industry,^[9] and in Cornwall and Devon saffron cake was a cake flavoured with it.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the spice and dye made from crocus stigmas.^[6][3]
• before 1382 – the orange-yellow colour of saffron.^[6]
• c. 1386 – verb, to season with saffron, in Chaucer.^[6]
• before 1398 – adjective, saffron-coloured.^[4][2]
• c. 1425 – the saffron crocus, Crocus sativus.^[6][3]
• 1548 – bastard saffron, safflower, in William Turner's Names of Herbes.^[6]
• 1593 – verb, to dye with saffron.^[6]
• 1728 – Indian saffron, turmeric.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An orange-yellow spice and dye made from the dried stigmas of a crocus, used to colour and flavour food: a pinch of saffron in the rice.^[13][12][16]
2. The crocus (Crocus sativus) with purple flowers from which it comes, also called saffron crocus.^[13][12][16]
3. A deep orange or orange-yellow colour.^[13][12][6]

Adjective

1. Of the colour of saffron.^[13][6][14]

Verb

1. To colour or flavour with saffron, or as if with saffron.^[12][6][16]

Related words

• safranine
• safflower

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press