Arabic exportsFood & drinkTrade, money & letters

saffron

Arabic zaʿfarān, of uncertain older origin, named the costly crocus threads that Arab farmers grew in Spain: it entered Spanish azafrán and Portuguese açafrão with the article and went east to Persian, Urdu and Hindi, while Medieval Latin and French softened it to safran, which reached English by 1200 and went on to German and Russian.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Arabic to Andalusian Arabic, Old Spanish, Spanish

From Andalusian Arabic to Portuguese

From Arabic to Italian

From Medieval Latin to German

From German to Russian

From Arabic to Persian, Hindi

From Persian to Urdu

700 CEArabic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.