Note 482 — SAFFRON.

Meninski, in his Turkish Lexicon, has Zae’ feran, crocus. Golius gives it as a Persian word. That much saffron is still cultivated in Persia, and that it is of the best kind, appears from Chardin. See his Travels, printed at Rouen, 1723, 10 vols. 12mo. iv. p. 37. That the Spaniards borrowed the word safran from the Vandals is much more improbable. It is to be found in Joh. Marianæ Histor. de Rebus Hispaniæ. Hagæ, 1733, fol. i. p. 147. The author, speaking of foreign words introduced into the Spanish language, says, “Vandalis aliæ voces acceptæ feruntur, camara, azafran,” &c.