[1727.—"Saderass, or Saderass Patam." (See under [LONG-CLOTH].)]
c. 1780.—"J'avois pensé que Sadras auroit été le lieu où devoient finir mes contrarietés et mes courses."—Haafner, i. 141.
" "'Non, je ne suis point Anglois,' m'écriai-je avec indignation et transport; 'je suis un Hollandois de Sadringapatnam.'"—Ibid. 191.
1781.—"The chief officer of the French now despatched a summons to the English commandant of the Fort to surrender, and the commandant, not being of opinion he could resist ... evacuated the fort, and proceeded by sea in boats to Sudrung Puttun."—H. of Hydur Naik, 447.
SAFFLOWER, s. The flowers of the annual Carthamus tinctorius, L. (N.O. Compositae), a considerable article of export from India for use of a red dye, and sometimes, from the resemblance of the dried flowers to saffron, termed 'bastard saffron.' The colouring matter of safflower is the basis of rouge. The name is a curious modification of words by the 'striving after meaning.' For it points, in the first half of the name, to the analogy with saffron, and in the second half, to the object of trade being a flower. But neither one nor the other of these meanings forms any real element in the word. Safflower appears to be an eventual corruption of the Arabic name of the thing, 'us̤fūr. This word we find in medieval trade-lists (e.g. in Pegolotti) to take various forms such as asfiore, asfrole, astifore, zaffrole, saffiore; from the last of which the transition to safflower is natural. In the old Latin translation of Avicenna it seems to be called Crocus hortulanus, for the corresponding Arabic is given hasfor. Another Arabic name for this article is ḳurṭum, which we presume to be the origin of the botanist's carthamus. In Hind. it is called kusumbha or kusum. Bretschneider remarks that though the two plants, saffron and safflower, have not the slightest resemblance, and belong to two different families and classes of the nat. system, there has been a certain confusion between them among almost all nations, including the Chinese.
c. 1200.—"'Usfur ... Abu Hanifa. This plant yields a colouring matter, used in dyeing. There are two kinds, cultivated and wild, both of which grow in Arabia, and the seeds of which are called al-ḳurṭum."—Ibn Baithar, ii. 196.
c. 1343.—"Affiore vuol esser fresco, e asciutto, e colorito rosso in colore di buon zafferano, e non giallo, e chiaro a modo di femminella di zafferano, e che non sia trasandato, che quando è vecchio e trasandato si spolverizza, e fae vermini."—Pegolotti, 372.
1612.—"The two Indian ships aforesaid did discharge these goods following ... oosfar, which is a red die, great quantitie."—Capt. Saris, in Purchas, i. 347.
[1667-8.—"... madder, safflower, argoll, castoreum...."—List of Goods imported, in Birdwood, Report on Old Records, 76.]
1810.—"Le safran bâtard ou carthame, nommé dans le commerce safranon, est appelé par les Arabes ... osfour ou ... Kortom. Suivant M. Sonnini, le premier nom désigne la plante; et le second, ses graines."—Silv. de Sacy, Note on Abdallatif, p. 123.