زعفران

See also: زغفران

Arabic

Etymology

Borrowed from Aramaic צפר with unattested -ān ending, compare زَعْتَر (zaʕtar, “wild thyme”) and juxtapose عُصْفُر (ʕuṣfur) for a native form from أَصْفَر (ʔaṣfar, “yellow”) of the root ص ف ر (ṣ f r).

A Middle Iranian borrowing is also maintained, which invites comparison with Persian (ja'fari, “parsley”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zaʕ.fa.raːn/

Noun

زَعْفَرَان • (zaʕfarān) m

saffron

Declension

Declension of noun **زَعْفَرَان** (zaʕfarān)
singular	basic singular triptote
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	زَعْفَرَان zaʕfarān	الزَّعْفَرَان az-zaʕfarān	زَعْفَرَان zaʕfarān
nominative	زَعْفَرَانٌ zaʕfarānun	الزَّعْفَرَانُ az-zaʕfarānu	زَعْفَرَانُ zaʕfarānu
accusative	زَعْفَرَانًا zaʕfarānan	الزَّعْفَرَانَ az-zaʕfarāna	زَعْفَرَانَ zaʕfarāna
genitive	زَعْفَرَانٍ zaʕfarānin	الزَّعْفَرَانِ az-zaʕfarāni	زَعْفَرَانِ zaʕfarāni

Descendants

Maltese: żagħfran
Moroccan Arabic: زعفران (zaʕfrān)
Andalusian Arabic: زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān) (from the definite form الزَّعْفَرَان (az-zaʕfarān))
- → Asturian: azafrán
- → Galician: azafrán
- → Portuguese: açafrão
- → Spanish: azafrán

Borrowings

→ Aramaic:
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܙܲܥܦܪܵܢܵܐ (zaˁprānā)

Jewish Literary Aramaic: זעפרנא

Classical Mandaic: ࡆࡀࡐࡀࡓࡀࡍࡀ, ࡆࡀࡏࡐࡀࡓࡀࡍࡀ

Classical Syriac: ܙܥܦܪܢ
→ Middle Armenian: զաֆրան (zafran), զափրան (zapʻran), զաւհրան (zawhran)
- Armenian: զաֆրան (zafran)
→ Italian: zafferano
→ Medieval Latin: safranum
- Gallo-Italic
  - → Ligurian: safran
  - → Piedmontese: safran
- → Old French: safran (see there for further descendants)
- → Old Occitan:
  - Catalan: safrà
  - Occitan: safran
→ Ottoman Turkish: زعفران (zaʼferan), زغفران (zağferan, zagferan), صفران (safran)
- Gagauz: şafran
- Turkish: safran
- → Bulgarian: шафра́н (šafrán)
- → Macedonian: шафран (šafran)
- → Russian: шафра́н (šafrán)
- → Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: ша̀фран
  Latin script: šàfran
→ Persian: زعفران (za'ferân) (see there for further descendants)
→ Swahili: zafarani

Unsorted borrowings

→ Albanian: shafran
→ Czech: šafrán
→ Danish: safran
→ Estonian: safran
→ Faroese: safran
→ Hebrew: זעפרן (z'afrán)
→ Hungarian: sáfrány
→ Icelandic: saffran
→ Latvian: safrāns
→ Lithuanian: šafranas, šafronas
→ Norwegian: safran
→ Polish: szafran
→ Romanian: șofran
→ Slovak: šafran
→ Slovene: žafran
→ Swedish: saffran

References

Asbaghi, Asya (1988) Persische Lehnwörter im Arabischen‎^[1] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 145, where Middle Iranian *zar-parān (“gold-wings”)
“ṣpr⁶”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
“zˁprn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–

Baluchi

Noun

زعفران • (transliteration needed)

saffron

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

زغفران (zağferan, zagferan), صفران (safran)

Etymology

From Arabic زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zɑʔfɛˈɾɑn/

Noun

زعفران • (zaʼferan)

saffron
- 1914, Harun Reşit Kocacan, Muhtasar ilm-i kımya: Darülmuallimin ve Darülfünun ile mekâtib-i iʼdadiye sınıflarına mahsustur, İstanbul: Kitaphane-yi İslâm ve Askerı̂, page 254:
  طبیعی بویالرك اك مهملری كوك بویا ، بقام اغاجی ، چیوید ، زغفران جهرى وقرمزدر .
  tabiʼi boyalarıñ eñ mühimleri kök boya, bakkam ağacı, ‍çivid, zağferan[,] cehri ve kırmızdır.
  The most important natural dyes are madder, bloodwood, indigo, saffron, yellowberry, and kermes.

Descendants

Gagauz: şafran
Turkish: safran
→ Bulgarian: шафра́н (šafrán)
→ Macedonian: шафран (šafran)
→ Russian: шафра́н (šafrán)
→ Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic script: ша̀фран

Latin script: šàfran

References

Meyer, Gustav (1893) “Türkische Studien. I. Die griechischen und romanischen Bestandtheile im Wortschatze des Osmanisch-Türkischen”, in Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German), volume 128, Wien: In Commission bei F. Tempsky, page 9, makes the claim that صفران (safran) is a Europeanized variant, but the variation is native Turkish; see Azerbaijani zəngin.
Kélékian, Diran (1911) “زعفران”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 644b
Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “safran”, in Nişanyan Sözlük, phantasizes the variation with ص (ṣ) to have been present in Arabic, citing Asbaghi, Asya (1988) Persische Lehnwörter im Arabischen‎^[3] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, which is known as unseriös (Ullmann, Manfred (1997) Zur Geschichte des Wortes barīd „Post“ [About the history of the word barīd ‘post’] (Beiträge zur Lexikographie des Klassischen Arabisch; 13)‎^[4] (in German), München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Kommission bei der C.H.Beck’schen Verlagsbuchhandlung, →ISBN, page 9).