Etymology
The ultimate origin of the English word saffron is, like that of the cultivated saffron clone itself, of somewhat uncertain origin. It immediately stems from the Latin word safranum via the 12th-century Old French term safran. Etymology beyond that point is conflicted. Safranum may derive via the Persian intercessor زعفران, or za'ferân. But some disputants argue that it instead ultimately came from the Arabic word زَعْفَرَان, or za'farān. The latter comes from the adjective أَصْفَر: aṣfar, meaning "yellow". It could also derive from the Hebrew word for "thread", or sahafaran.
Others give an alternative derivation: that زَعْفَرَان (za'farān) is the arabicised form of the Persian word زرپران zarparān, zar + par + -ān—"having yellow leaves". The Latin form safranum is also the source of the Catalan safrà, Italian zafferano, Portuguese açafrão, and Spanish azafrán. The Latin term crocum is certainly a Semitic loan word. It is adapted from the Aramaic form kurkema via the Arabic term kurkum and the Greek intermediates krokos or karkum, which once again signify "yellowish".
Read more about this topic: History Of Saffron
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