ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORDS CROCUS AND SAFFRON. 



the languages in which it occurs it has been borrowed directly or indirectly from the 

 Arabic J JLe' za'feran. The ultimate origin of this Arabic word is unknown ; 

 De Candolle""" suggests that it may be derived from j^.\ assfar, 'yellow'; but this 

 derivation is untenable, failing to account for the presence in the word za'feran of 

 the peculiar guttural c (Ain) before the f ; moreover, the z (as in English zone) is 

 a totally different sound from the hard s (harder than in English ass).f In adopting 

 this word, the Oriental languages which employ the Arabic character usually, though 

 not invariably, adopt the Arabic spelling as well ; but in actual pronunciation they 

 altogether drop the guttural Ain, and often slightly modify the rest of the word, 

 usually substituting some other sibilant for the z. European languages always omit 

 the guttural, and variously modify the rest of the sounds. The following list does 

 not profess to be exhaustive : — 



Persian. 



pronounced 



Hindustani. 



u)A*j 



The c not 



Malay. 



a'ferdn 



■a'ferdn. The Ben 

 unciatio 



U^ safarunX 



gali and Hindi pronunciation is jafran. 

 Turkish. 



lii^ac; za'feran, and ^\ju> 

 safran ; in either case pronounced safran, 

 with both a's broad, as in English wall 

 or war. 



MEDLEVAL Greek. Zcupapds, zaphards; 

 %a<f>pa<;, zaphr&s, and ^acpopd, zaphord ; 

 though all these words seem to have 

 applied confusedly to Saffiower as well 

 as to Saffron. § 



Modern Greek, cafypdm, saphrdni. 



RUSSIAN. HIa<i>paiu>, shafran. 



Servian. MaBpaH, skavran, 



Polish. Szafran. 



v 



Illyrian. Q'afran, or Savran and Xufran\ 

 Hungarian. Sdfrdny. 



Roumanian. Safranu. 



Low Latin. Zafaranum, zaffaranum, 

 zafranum, saffranum, and zaframen, 

 but this last form is thought by 

 Du Cange to be a copyist's error for 

 zafranum. 



Italian. Zafferano and zaffrone. 



Spanish. Azafran. 



Portuguese. Acafraa. The Spanish 

 and Portuguese show an initial a, 

 because they adopted the Arabic 

 word preceded by the definite article, 



jij^/epl az-za'ferdn. 

 Catalan. Safrd. 



FRENCH. Safran, formerly often saffran, 

 Breton. Safron. 



Welsh. Safrwn, saffrwm, safryn, saffr. 

 GERMAN. Safran, saffran. 

 Danish. Saffran. 

 Swedish. Safran. 

 Dutch. Saffraan. 

 English. Saffron. In Old English the 



word is variously spelt ; e.g., saffron, 



safroun, safforne. 



* Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 166. 



t Littr^, sub voce 'Safran,' has, " 1'arabe as-zaferan, qui vient du Persan saa/er"; but this is an error, zaafer 

 being the Arabic plural of za'feran. 



J Ainslie, Materia Indica, sub voce 'Saffron.' 



§ Du Cange, Glossariuni media et infima Gracitatis. 



|| Visiani, Flora Dalmatica, hi, 121. 



