Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Saffron does, however, quite well in cooler climates, and since the 15.th century, numerous attempts have been made to introduce saffron production to German, Switzerland, Austria and even England. For example, the town of Saffron Walden (Essex/England) got its name from local saffron production in the 16.th century. However, by the end of the 18.th century, most of the former saffron cultivation sites had become abandoned, and in our days, the only remaining saffron industry in Europe north of the Mediterranean is found in Mund, a small Swiss village in canton Wallis. In Mund, a few kilograms of saffron per year are produced in traditional way, at an elevation of about 1200 m.

Of the Western and Central Asian cultivation areas, Iran is most productive. In recent years, yield has been enormously increased and Iran now produces more saffron than Spain. Smaller amounts are harvested in Turkey and India.

Of all the Indian provenances, Kashmiri saffron has a particularly high reputation, but is hardly available outside India; furthermore, yields and quality have decreased because of the unfortunate political situation persisting since decades. Production is confined to a small area around the village Pampore [پانپورہ], just a few kilometers from the summer state capital Srinagar. The fields are divided into sections one or two square meters large and are kept free from vegetation all year round. Flowers show up for a about two weeks in the end of October or the beginning of November. They are picked from the plants (to stimulate more flower formation) and separated into styles are waste afterwards. Including the final drying of the styles, all the work is done by families that use little or no modern technology.

Directly or via medieaval Latin safranum, the word spread from the Iberic peninsular (then under Mauric rule) to practically all European languages and even some non-European ones, e. g. (to name a few geographical extremes) Portuguese açafrão, Italian zafferano, Greek zafora [ζαφορά], Georgian zaprana [ზაფრანა], Russian shafran [шафран] and Finnish sahrami. Similar names are also found in non-European languages, e. g., Amharic safron [ሰፍሮን], Kazakh zağıparan [зағыпаран], Hindi zafran [ज़ाफ़रान], Thai yafaran [หญ้าฝรั่น] and Japanese safuran [さふらん, サフラン].

The Sanskrit names of saffron point to the ancient Indian area of saffron production: Kashmirajanman [कश्मीरजन्मन्] product of Kashmir and kashmira [काश्मीर] the one from Kashmir; the second name, however, can also be used for other Kashmiri products, e. g., costus (putchuk), Saussurea lappa, Asteraceae. Such names are rare in today’s Indian languages, an example is Malayalam kashmiram [കാശ്മീരം].

Several super­ficially similar Indic names of saffron (Sanskrit kesaravara [केसरवर], Hindi kesar [केसर], Punjabi keshar [ਕੇਸ਼ਰ], Urdu kisar [کیسر]) are, however, not related but derive from Sanskrit kesara [केसर] hair, eye-brow, which refers to the thin, almost hairlike saffron threads. Yet note that the analogous Tibetan name gaser [སྒ་སེར] means turmeric.

The earliest Greek name of saffron is found in Linear B tablets: knakos [𐀏𐀙𐀒, also written logographically as 𐂔], which in the classical era became knekos [κνῆκος] or knikion [κνίκιον] and was used to denote other orange-flowering plants, e. g., safflower (see there for its affiliation). In India, Sanskrit kunkuma [कुंकुम] and Kashmiri kung [کونگ] probably belong to the same kin. That name even spread to Burma, where the plant is known by the (suspected) Indian loanword kunkum [ကုံကုမံ].

The knakos-type names fell into disuse after the collapse of the Mycenean civilization; from Homer’s time one, saffron was invariably called krokos [κρόκος] in Greek language. In the Iliad, Homer used that word as a metaphor for the golden colour of dawn (see also poppy). The origin of that name is not known, but is is usually assumed pre-Greek and not Indo–European.

Except in Modern Greek, this name has not survived to any contemporary language, but cf. also Old English crog saffron. In its Latin form Crocus, the name appears as the botanical genus name of saffron. The etymology of krokos is not known with certainty, but maybe there is a connection to Old Hebrew language.