Bibliotheca Polyglotta

Of obscure etymology, perh. from mPers. If so, zaʕfarān would be one out of the significant number of Pers botanical-culinary terms that found their way into Ar.

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ DRS 8 (1999)#ZʕPR: Syr zʕprn, Ar zaʕfarān, Mhr Ḥrs EJib zaʕferān, Te zäʔəfran, Amh zəʔəfran ‘saffron’.
▪ …

disc

▪ EALL (Asbaghi, »Persian Loanwords«): a loan from mPers zarparān ‘saffron’ (lit. ‘with gold leaves’).
▪ Rolland2014a: »Peut-être du Pers zar-parān ‘aux pétales d’or’. Mais ce n’est qu’une des diverses hypothèses proposées pour ce mot à l’étymologie obscure. Boutrolle, Laffitte et Lemut¹ optent pour un rattachement commun de zaʕfarān et ↗ʕuṣfur ‘carthame, safran bâtard’, à la famille de la racine ↗ṢFR ‘jaune’.«
▪ DRS 8 (1999)#ZʕPR: AHW 93 compares the Akk plant name azupīr-, azupirān-, but this is dismissed by CAD 1/II, 531, following Landsberger WO 3/260, n. 56. – The EthSem forms are based on a borrowing from Ar.

1. “Considérations sur l’origine de mot safran ”, Bulletin de la SELEFA 8: 9-16.

west

▪ European words for ‘saffron’ originate in Ar Spain. Thus, for Ge Safran, Kluge2002 says that (in its mHGe form saf[f]rān) it is a C13 loan from oFr safran, which in turn is from Span azafrán, from Ar zaʕfarān ‘crocus’.
▪ For Engl saffron, gives: »c1200, from oFr safran (C12), from mLat safranum (cognate with It zafferano, Span azafran), ultimately from Ar az-zaʕfarān, which is of unknown origin.«
▪ The Ar word has made its way into many Eur langs. Lokotsch1927#2178 gives It zafferano, Fr safran, Span azafrán, Port açafrão, Rum safran, sofran, şofran ‘id.’, oFr saffre ‘embroidered with gold thread’, Sard tofferanu ‘saffron’; Ge Safran, Engl saffron, Du saffraan, Ru safran, Pol szafran, Cz Serb šafran, Bulg Serb čafran ‘id.’.

deriv

–

Permanent link

http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=record&uid=d8c3079e-06ff-11ee-937a-005056a97067

Choose languages

Choose images, etc.

Choose languages

Choose display