Saffron - 2

Etymology

The English word saffron stems from the Latin word safranum via the 13th-century Old French term safran. Meanwhile, Safranum derives via Persian زعفران (za'ferân). Some argue that it ultimately came from the Arabic word زَعْفَرَان (za'farān), which is itself derived from the adjective أَصْفَر (aṣfar, "yellow"). However, some give an alternative derivation arguing that زَعْفَرَان (za'farān) is the arabicized form of the Persian word زرپران (zarparān) - "having golden stigmas". Latin safranum is also the source of the Italian zafferano and Spanish azafrán[8] etc. Crocum in Latin is a Semitic loan word derived from Aramaic kurkema via Arabic kurkum, and Greek krokos.