Turmeric dye gives a saffron yellow colour. Medieval Arabic dictionaries say kurkum is used as a yellow dye and used as a medicine.[2] Ibn al-Baitar (died 1248) said kurkum is (among other things) a root from the East Indies that produces a saffron-like dye. In the West the early records have meaning turmeric and they are in late medieval Latin medical books that were influenced by Arabic medicine.[30] The word is ultimately derived from the Sanskrit kuṅkuma, referring to both turmeric and saffron[31], used in India since ancient times for religious ceremonies, pigment dyeing and medicine.