c. 1200, safroun, "product made from the dried stigmas of flowers of the autumn crocus," from Old French safran (12c.), from Medieval Latin safranum (cognate with Italian zafferano, Spanish azafran), ultimately from Arabic az-za'faran, which is of unknown origin. The substance is noted for its sweet aroma and deep orange color. As a color word for deep yellow-orange, and an adjective, by late 14c. In reference to the crocus plant itself from early 15c. German Safran is from French; Russian shafran' is from Arabic. Related: Saffrony (adj.).

"flowering plant best known for producing the spice and dyestuff saffron," late 14c., from Latin crocus, from Greek krokos "crocus," also "saffron," a word probably of Semitic origin (compare Arabic kurkum), ultimately from Sanskrit kunkumam, unless the Sanskrit word is from the Semitic one. The autumnal crocus (Crocus sativa) was a common source of yellow dye in Roman times, and was perhaps grown in England, where the word existed as Old English croh, but this form of the word was forgotten by the time the plant was re-introduced in Western Europe by the Crusaders.

coloring matter of turmeric, 1838 (by 1805 in German), from Curcuma, genus name for plants of the ginger family, from which the chemical was drawn, Medieval Latin, from Arabic kurkum "saffron, turmeric." Compare crocus.

pungent powder made from the root of an East Indian plant, 1530s, altered from Middle English turmeryte (early 15c.), which is of uncertain origin. "Middle English Compendium" compares Medieval Latin terra merita (16c.), French terre mérite (17c.), literally "worthy earth," though the reason why it would be called this is obscure. Klein suggests it might be a folk-etymology corruption of Arabic kurkum "curcuma, saffron."

c. 1200, "something added to food or drink to enhance the flavor, vegetable substance aromatic or pungent to the taste," also "a spice used as a medication or an alchemical ingredient," from Old French espice (Modern French épice), from Late Latin species (plural) "spices, goods, wares," in classical Latin "kind, sort" (see species). From c. 1300 as "an aromatic spice," also "spices as commodities;" from early 14c. as "a spice-bearing plant." Figurative sense of "attractive or enjoyable variation" is from 13c.; that of "slight touch or trace of something" is recorded from 1530s. Meaning "specimen, sample" is from 1790. Early druggists recognized four "types" of spices: saffron, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg.

early 14c., brasile, "brasilwood," name of a type of red wood from an East Indian tree, used in making dye (in modern times known as sappan-wood or Indian redwood), from Medieval Latin brasilium, Old French bresil, which probably is related to brese "embers," and like it from a Germanic source (compare braze (v.1)), from PIE root *bhreu- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn," and so called for resemblance of color to a glowing ember.

But as the product came to Europe via India perhaps this is a folk-etymology of some word in Arabic or another Asian language (an Old Italian form, verzino, suggests to some a possible connection with Arabic wars "saffron"). The same word for the same stuff entered Portuguese and Spanish (brasil) and Italian (brasile).

The South American country was named Santa Cruz by its "discoverer," Pedro Alvarez Cabral (1500), but within a decade on maps it began to be called terra de brasil "red-dyewood land" because it produced a valuable red dyewood similar to East Indian type, and that name predominated from 1550s.

Complicating matters is Hy Brasil, a name attested since early 14c. for a legendary island or rock in the North Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland. It is so-called perhaps from the "red dyewood" word by association with Pliny's Insulae Purpurariae ("Purple Islands") in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco.

late 14c., in reference to the fruit of the orange tree (late 13c. as a surname), from Old French orange, orenge (12c., Modern French orange), from Medieval Latin pomum de orenge, from Italian arancia, originally narancia (Venetian naranza), an alteration of Arabic naranj, from Persian narang, from Sanskrit naranga-s "orange tree," a word of uncertain origin.

Not used as a color word in English until 1510s (orange color), "a reddish-yellow color like that of a ripe orange." Colors similar to modern orange in Middle English might be called citrine or saffron. Loss of initial n- probably is due to confusion with the definite article (as in une narange, una narancia), but also perhaps was by influence of French or "gold." The name of the town of Orange in France (see Orangemen) perhaps was deformed by the name of the fruit. Orange juice is attested from 1723.

The tree's original range probably was northern India. The Persian orange, grown widely in southern Europe after its introduction in Italy 11c., was bitter; sweet oranges were brought to Europe 15c. from India by Portuguese traders and quickly displaced the bitter variety, but only Modern Greek still seems to distinguish the bitter (nerantzi) from the sweet (portokali "Portuguese") orange.

Portuguese, Spanish, Arab, and Dutch sailors planted citrus trees along trade routes to prevent scurvy. On his second voyage in 1493, Christopher Columbus brought the seeds of oranges, lemons and citrons to Haiti and the Caribbean. Introduced in Florida (along with lemons) in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. It was introduced to Hawaii in 1792.

Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress," in later use especially "a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits and to be able by their cooperation to perform supernatural acts," fem. of Old English wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic," from verb wiccian "to practice witchcraft" (compare Low German wikken, wicken "to use witchcraft," wikker, wicker "soothsayer").

OED says of uncertain origin; Liberman says "None of the proposed etymologies of witch is free from phonetic or semantic difficulties." Klein suggests connection with Old English wigle "divination," and wig, wih "idol." Watkins says the nouns represent a Proto-Germanic *wikkjaz "necromancer" (one who wakes the dead), from PIE *weg-yo-, from PIE root *weg- "to be strong, be lively."

That wicce once had a more specific sense than the later general one of "female magician, sorceress" perhaps is suggested by the presence of other words in Old English describing more specific kinds of magical craft. In the Laws of Ælfred (c. 890), witchcraft was specifically singled out as a woman's craft, whose practitioners were not to be suffered to live among the West Saxons:

Ða fæmnan þe gewuniað onfon gealdorcræftigan & scinlæcan & wiccan, ne læt þu ða libban.

The other two words combined with it here are gealdricge, a woman who practices "incantations," and scinlæce "female wizard, woman magician," from a root meaning "phantom, evil spirit."

Another word that appears in the Anglo-Saxon laws is lyblæca "wizard, sorcerer," but with suggestions of skill in the use of drugs, because the root of the word is lybb "drug, poison, charm" (see leaf (n.)). Lybbestre was a fem. word meaning "sorceress," and lybcorn was the name of a certain medicinal seed (perhaps wild saffron). Weekley notes possible connection to Gothic weihs "holy" and German weihan "consecrate," and writes, "the priests of a suppressed religion naturally become magicians to its successors or opponents." Whatever the English word's origin, the use of a "poisoner" word for "witch, sorceress" parallels that of the Hebrew word used for "witch, sorceress" in the Levitical condemnation.

In Anglo-Saxon glossaries, wicca renders Latin augur (c. 1100), and wicce stands for "pythoness, divinatricem." In the "Three Kings of Cologne" (c. 1400) wicca translates Magi:

Þe paynyms ... cleped þe iij kyngis Magos, þat is to seye wicchis.

The glossary translates Latin necromantia ("demonum invocatio") with galdre, wiccecræft. The Anglo-Saxon poem called "Men's Crafts" (also "The Gifts of Men") has wiccræft, which appears to be the same word, and by its context means "skill with horses." In a c. 1250 translation of "Exodus," witches is used of the Egyptian midwives who save the newborn sons of the Hebrews: "Ðe wicches hidden hem for-ðan, Biforen pharaun nolden he ben."

Witch in reference to a man survived in dialect into 20c., but the fem. form was so dominant by 1601 that men-witches or he-witch began to be used. Extended sense of "old, ugly, and crabbed or malignant woman" is from early 15c; that of "young woman or girl of bewitching aspect or manners" is first recorded 1740. Witch doctor is from 1718; applied to African magicians from 1836.

At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch,' or 'she is a wise woman.' [Reginald Scot, "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," 1584]

late 14c. (perhaps mid-13c. in Anglo-French), grave, gravei, gravi, greve, gravey, gravee, grovi, grauvey, with u/v variation typical of medieval spelling. From Old French gravé, graué, "seasoned broth or sauce," ultimately from Persian zirbaja, said by H.F. Amedroz to mean “concoction in a pot.” The unattested intermediate term should have been something like *girveie (see evolution of ginger for comparison.) 

The dish became popular in Europe in the 14th century, probably introduced through the Emirate of Granada in what is now Spain.

Recipe for Zîrbâja […] Take a young, cleaned hen and put it in a pot with a little salt, pepper, coriander, cinnamon, saffron and sufficient of vinegar and fresh oil, and when the meat is cooked, take peeled, crushed almonds and good white sugar, four ûqiyas of each; dissolve them in rosewater, pour in the pot and let it boil; then leave it on the embers until the fat rises. It is the most nutritious of dishes and good for all temperaments; this dish is made with hens or pigeons or doves, or with the meat of a young lamb. [An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, translated by Charles Perry.]

Conyngys in graueye. Take Conyngys, and make hem clene, and hakke hem in gobettys, and sethe hem, other larde hem and Rost hem; and thanne hakke hem, and take Almaundys, and grynde hem, and temper hem vppe with gode Freysshe brothe of Flesshe, and coloure it wyth Safroun, and do ther-to a porcyon of flowre of Rys, and do ther-to then pouder Gyngere, Galyngale, Canel, Sugre, Clowys, Maces, and boyle it onys and sethe it; then take the Conyngys, and putte ther-on, and dresse it and serue it forth. [Harleian MS 279, date ca. 1420]

It is usually said that gravé is a non-word created as a mistranscription of grané, a similar mixture with which it is indeed conflated in French manuscripts. Grané is usually supposed to be from Medieval Latin granatum “corned, grained” but this is unattested in the context of this sauce. It is as likely in this case to be from "Granada" (see Granada.) 

There may have been a second word, combined through folk-etymology, that led to the secondary sense of "juice of cooked meat." Perhaps Old French engravee "carved, sliced" or Old English greofa, an oil-pan (related to greaves, 1610s, "fibrous matter cooked out of animal fat.")

In Middle English the word grave is glossed against Latin garus, "a type of fish used for making sauce" and promulada, probably from promulsis, an old appetizer of eggs and fish. The sense of broths or drippings appears to originally be of fishes, then soon extended to meat drippings or gelatin, which sense grows dominant in English from mid-15c, though still used most typically of fish or other seafood till 16c.

As "a sauce made with meat drippings," 1670s, originally sauce gravy or gravy sauce. Applied to vegetarian mixtures by 1875. The meaning "tomato sauce" (chiefly Italian-American) is by 1978, evidently from certain Italian dialects differentiating tomato puree (salsa, "sauce") from the cooked tomato sauce (sugo, translated "gravy" in many 19c. and 20c. Italian-English dictionaries, or ragu, etc.)

The meaning "money easily acquired" is attested by 1910; gravy train (by 1899) as something lucrative or productive is said to have been originally railroad slang for a short haul that paid well. Gravy-boat "small, deep dish for holding gravy or sauce" is from 1827.