From Pers kārbān ~ kārvān ‘caravan’ < mPers kārvān ‘do.’, perhaps from Akk ḫarrānu ‘highway, road, path; etc.’
▪ In ClassAr, the meaning was still more varied: 1. caravan, 2. army, camp, 3. market, fair. From these values, only the first has survived into MSA. ▪ In Tu, the word is first attested, as kârbān ~ kârvān, in ʕĀşıḳpaşa’s Ġarīb-nāme, 1330.
See DISC.
▪ Not related to QRW or QRY, but ▪ a loan from Pers kārbān ~ kārvān ‘caravan’ or < mPers kārvān ‘do.’, which is perhaps from Akk ḫarrānu ‘highway, road, path; trip, journey, travel; business trip; caravan; business venture; business capital; military campaign, expedition, raid; expeditionary force, army; corvée work; service unit; (etc.)’ – NişanyanSözlük (as of 15Sept2014). The fact that the spectrum of meanings in ClassAr resembles very much the one in Akk, lets a direct loan seem not impossible. ▪ Lokotsch1927 #1075 supports the Pers background (kārvān, kärvān), but tends to make the latter dependent on Skr karabha ‘(young) camel’ (prop. ‘possessing celerity’).
In Engl, the word caravan is attested since the 1580 s. According to EtymOnline, it came in via mFr caravane < oFr carvane, carevane ‘caravan’ (C13) or mLat caravana, picked up during the Crusades from Pers kārvān ‘group of desert travelers’ (which Klein connects to Skr karabhah ‘camel’). In Ge it is attested since C16. According to Kluge2002, it is taken via Ital carovana from Pers kārvān (with additional vowels inserted probably for ‘euphonic’ reasons).