English
scarlet
Scarlet comes from Old French escarlate ‘a type of cloth’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut, cut off, sever’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut, cut off, sever’root as named
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500scarlātum‘scarlet cloth’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400escarlate‘a type of cloth’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scarlet
- Englishearliest quotation 1611scarlet
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut, cut off, sever’root as named
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500scarlātum‘scarlet cloth’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400escarlate‘a type of cloth’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scarlet
- Englishearliest quotation 1611scarlet
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “All her household are clothed with scarlet.”
first attested This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century (as stated in the etymology)
The story
From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (‘a type of cloth’), from Medieval Latin scarlātum (‘scarlet cloth’), of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century. The most obvious route for the Arabic word siqillāt to have entered the Romance languages would be via the Arabic-speaking Iberian region of al-Andalus, particularly Almería, where kermes was produced extensively; compare especially the dialectal form سِقِرْلَاط (siqirlāṭ). The word then came to be used of woollen cloth dyed with the same dye.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut, cut off, sever’
saw, sex, design, sign, risk, section, ship, sexual, seal, segment, sack, insect, sawyer, sax, sickle, dissect, het, shingle, sich, scythe, seg, sedge, sigil, sain, desiccation, brassica, desiccant, 62 more
Today it means
noun A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sek- / scarlet