Probably from French 'terre mérite' (deserving earth) — the ground root resembled earth pigment.
A bright yellow spice from the root of a tropical plant, used in cooking and traditional medicine.
From earlier English 'turmeryte' or 'tormarith' (16th c.), probably from Old French 'terre mérite' (deserving earth, meritorious earth) or Medieval Latin 'terra merita' (worthy earth), apparently a translators' calque or folk-etymological rendering of an Arabic name. Arabic 'kurkum' (turmeric, saffron) — possibly from Sanskrit 'kunkuma' (saffron) — was the source used in Arabic medicine and spice trade. The French 'terre mérite' interpretation may reflect the plant's extraordinary medical reputation in Medieval European herbalism, where turmeric was prized as a digestive, anti-inflammatory, and liver