# زعفران
## 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 جعفری (ja'fari, “parsley”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /zaʕ.fa.raːn/

### Noun

زَعْفَرَان • (zaʕfarān) m
* saffron

#### 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
* → Icelandic: saffran
* → Hebrew: זעפרן (z'afrán)
* → Hungarian: sáfrány
* → 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 (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 145, where Middle Iranian *zar-parān (“gold-wings”)
* “ṣpr$^6$”, 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: /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, 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 (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)‎ (in German), München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Kommission bei der C.H.Beck’schen Verlagsbuchhandlung, →ISBN, page 9).

## Pashto
### Noun

زعفران • (za'farā́n) m
* saffron

### References

* “زعفران”, in Pashto Dictionary, Peshawar, Pakistan: Pukhtoogle, 2020.

## Persian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [zaʔ.fa.ɾɑːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zäʔ.fä.ɾɑːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zäʔ.fä.ɾɑːn]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [zɑː.fä.ɾɑːn]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [zɔː.fä.ɾɔːn]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [zæʔ.fæ.ɹɒːn]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [zäʔ.fä.ɾɔn]

### Noun

زعفران • (za'farân)
* saffron

#### Derived terms

* زعفرانی (za'farâni, “saffrony”)

#### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: zəfəran
** → Georgian: ზაფარან (zaparan) — Ingilo
* → Bengali: জাফরান (japhoran)
* → Georgian: ზაფარანი (zaparani) — Fereydan
* → Hindustani:
    Hindi: ज़ाफ़रान (zāfrān)
    Urdu: زعفران (zāfrān)
* → Sindhi: زعفران

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زَعْفَرَان (za'farān), from Arabic زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /zɑːf.ɾɑːn/

### Noun

زعفران • (zāfrān) f (Hindi spelling ज़ाफ़रान)
* saffron