Editing Crocus (section)

=== Etymology ===

"Crocus", the name of the genus, is [[Late Middle English]] (late 14th century) and also denotes saffron. It is derived via Latin ''crocus ''from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] κρόκος (''krokos''),{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1996a}} which is itself probably a [[loan word]] from a [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]], related to [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] כרכום ''karkōm'',{{sfn|Pankhurst|Hyam|1995|p=134}} [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] ܟܟܘܪܟܟܡܡܐ ''kurkama'', and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{lang|ar|كركم}} ''kurkum'', meaning saffron (''Crocus sativus''), "saffron yellow" or [[turmeric]] (see ''[[Curcuma]]''), another yellow dye.{{sfn|OED|2022}} The word ultimately traces back to the [[Sanskrit]] ''kunkumam'' ({{lang|sa|कुङ्कुमं}}) for "saffron". The English name is a learned 16th-century adoption from the Latin ''safranum'', but Old English already had ''croh'' for saffron, introduced by the Romans.{{sfn|Maw|1886}}{{sfn|Harper|2022}}{{sfn|Sharifi|2010}}