turmeric

Etymology

It is first recorded as inherited from Middle English termerite, also turmerite,^[2][3][4] and the early forms tarmaret and tormarith are also found.^[5][6][7] The origin is obscure.^[5][4] These forms resemble, and most dictionaries derive them from, the apothecaries' name borrowed from Middle French terre mérite,^{[3][8][5][6][7][9]} and Medieval Latin terra merita (“deserving or deserved earth”),^[5][3][8] from Latin terra (“earth”) and the past participle of mereō (“to deserve, be worth”).^[3][9] Littré says the powder bore this name in commerce, but why it was so called is unknown;^[5][4] the Middle English Dictionary only compares the Latin and French names, which it dates to the 16th and 17th centuries.^[2][4] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford think the name may be an alteration of some Eastern word,^[10][7][11] and Klein took it as a folk-etymological corruption of Arabic كُرْكُم (kurkum, “curcuma, saffron”),^[12][4][1] the source of curcuma; the OED thinks such a change too unlikely.^[5] The final -t of the English word became -c or -k, through scribal error or the influence of words such as arsenic, and the ending was assimilated to -ic.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The powdered root of the curcuma: probably before 1425, in a manuscript that glosses Cucurme as Turmeryte, and about 1450 in a remedy for jaundice.^[2] Barnhart dates the Middle English form to probably before 1425,^[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century.^[8] The modern form is recorded from 1538.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1538 the herbalist William Turner applied the name to the root of tormentil, apparently from some real or supposed likeness in its properties or uses.^[5] The modern sense, the aromatic rootstock of an East Indian plant or the powder made from it, the chief ingredient of curry powder and also a yellow dye, is recorded from 1545, in a book of customs rates.^[5] From 1601, in Holland's translation of Pliny, the word also named the plant itself, Curcuma longa, of the ginger family.^[5][13]

Timeline

• probably before 1425 – turmeryte, the powdered root of the curcuma.^[2][3]
• 1538 – turmeric, applied by herbalists to the root of tormentil.^[5]
• 1545 – the aromatic rootstock of the East Indian plant, or its powder.^[5]
• 1601 – the plant Curcuma longa.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An East Indian perennial plant of the ginger family, Curcuma longa, with a large yellow aromatic rhizome.^[8][13][5]
2. The dried and powdered rhizome of this plant, used as a spice, especially in curry powder, and as a yellow dye: She added a pinch of turmeric to the rice.^[8][13][5]
3. Any of several other plants with similar roots.^[13]

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or obtained from turmeric.^[8][5]

Word family

• turmeric paper

Related words

• curcuma
• merit
• terrain

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the spelling tumeric, which it marks as less common.^[8]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins