The name saffron comes from Arabic, where the spice is known as za'fran that name derives from a Semitic root signyfying "be yellow" or "become yellow". Almost all European and several non-European languages have loaned that name, e.g. (to name a few geographical extremes) Portuguese, Italian zafferone, Greek zafora , Georgian zaphrana, Russian shafran and Finnish sahrami. Similar names are also found in non-European languages, e.g., Amharic safron, Kazakh zagÕparan, Hindi zafran, Thai yafaran and Japanese safuran.

The Sanskrit names of saffron point to the ancient Indian area of saffron production: Kashmirajanman "product of Kashmir" and kashmira "the one from Kashmir"; the second name, however, can also be used for other Kashmiri products, e.g., costus (putchuk), Saussurea lappa, Asteraceae.

Several superfically similar Indic names of saffron (Sanskrit kesaravara, Hindi kesa, Urdu kisar) are, however, not related but derive from Sanskrit kesara "hair", which refers to the thin, almost hairlike saffron threads.

By the name krokos, the spice was known to the Greeks (as mentioned by Homeros in the Ilias). Except in Modern Greek, this name has not survived to any contemporary language, but in it Latin form Crocus, it is used as the botanical genus name of saffron. The etymology of krokos is not known, but maybe there is a connection to Old Hebrew language.

The Old Hebrew name for saffron is karkom and appears frequently in the Old Testament (see pomegranate). In Modern Hebrew, karkom was abandoned in favour of safran which is directly derived from Arabic za'fran.

The Arabic cognate of Hebrew karkom is kurkum, originally also with the meaning "saffron"; in modern Arabic, however, this is used as the name of turmeric only. The Arabic word indirectly entered many European languages to form the name of turmeric, e.g., curcuma. Of the whole kin of karkom and kurkum, only Armenian kerkoom is still alive with the meaning "saffron".

pharm Stigmata Croci Amharic Safron Arabic Zafraan, Zafran Armenian Kerkoom, Kerkum Assamese Jafran Azeri Zafran, Basque Azapar n, Hupa Bengali Jafran, Keshar Bulgarian Shafran Catalan Safr. Chinese(Cantonese) [f.an h-hng faa] , Faan huhng faa Chinese(Mandarin) [fan h¢ng hua], [z. h¢ng hua] Fan hong hua, Zang hong hua Croatian Vrtni safran Czech Safrn Danish Safran Dutch Saffraan Esperanto Safrano Estonian Krookus, Safrankrookus Farsi Za'afaran, Zaafraran Finnish Sahrami French Safran Gaelic Cr., Cr.dh, Cr.ch Galician Azafrn Georgian Zaphrana, Zaprana German Safran Greek Krokos, Safrani, Zafora Gujarati Keshar Hebrew Safran, Za'afran, Zafran Hindi Kesar, Zafraan Hungarian Fszers fr ny, S fr ny Icelandic Saffran Indonesian Kunyit kering Italian Zaffarano, Zafferano Japanese Sahuran, Safuran, Bankoka Kannada Agnishikhe, Kunkuma kesari Kazakh JawqazÕn, ZagÕparan, ZapÕrangl Korean Sapuran, Syapuran Latvian Safrana krokuss, Safranaugs Lithuanian Safranas Malay Koma koma Marathi Keshar Nepali Kesari Norwegian Safran Pahlawi Kurkum Pashto Zaffaron Polish Krokus uprawny, Szafran Portuguese A?afrÆo, A?aflor Proven?al Safran Romanian Sofran Russian Shafran Sanskrit Kumkuma, Kashmiirajan, Kashmiiran, Nagakeshara Slovak Safran Slovenian Zafran Spanish Azafrn Swahili Zafarani Swedish Saffran Tagalog Kashubha Tamil Kungumapu, Kungumappu Telugu Kunkumapuvvu Thai Ya faran Turkish Safran, Zagferan Ukrainian Shafran Vietnamese M.u v.ng ngh, Qu¡ ngh, Ngh tfy Mau vang nghe, Qui nghe, Nghe tay Yiddish Zafren