alizarin.

Etymology: < French alizari, commercial name of the madder root (1758 or earlier) < modern Greek αλιζάρι madder, apparently < ριζάρι , in the same sense ( < ρίζα root (ancient Greek ῥίζα : see rhizo- comb. form) + -αρι , suffix forming diminutives), with prosthetic vowel and dissimilation of consonants, perhaps also influenced by άλικος (adjective) scarlet ( < Turkish al (adjective) scarlet, (noun) scarlet colour + modern Greek -ικος -ic suffix). Compare Italian alizari (1769 or earlier), Spanish alizari (1853).The cultivation of madder was reintroduced into France and Italy from the Turkish Levant during the 18th cent., partly via Cyprus; the name was taken from modern Greek, which at the time was a language of the Ottoman Empire. A formerly widespread etymology of the French word as < Arabic al the + ʿuṣāra juice pressed out, extract ( < ʿaṣara to press, to extract) is untenable on formal grounds. Compare discussion by A. Steiger in Vox romanica (1962) 21 315–7.