Word Origin | Tereyağ, Tereyağı, Yağ, Tāze

As requested by a member of the Fabian Society of Old Constantinople a certain Mr. K. 

First of all 'tere' is a botanical [*]. Cress ( Lepidium sativum, Cresson alenois), sometimes referred to as garden cress to distinguish it from similar plants also referred to as cress, is a rather fast-growing, edible herb. Obviously this is not an oil plant and the 'tere' in tereyağ must come from a different source.

For this we must look in the production of tereyağ from milk. The fresh end result of butter extraction is called Tereyağ and it must be consumed quickly. The safekeeping during pre refrigeration days was cumbersome and difficult. It would go rancid in a few days. For long term use it was clarified to remove water and some milk solids. Clarified butter from Trabzon's Vakfıkebir was well known.

The English word 'fresh' covers both subtle meanings of 'new' and 'current' giving it an immediacy similar to the word's Persian origin تره tara.  The name for fast running hound 'tazi' also comes from the root meaning : current,running.

In Turkish the last letter in cursive Arabic تره was sounded a softer 'a' and eventually to 'e'.

And this is the story of tere in tereyağ.

[*] bahçeteresi, çayırteresi, kışteresi, suteresi, yabanteresi, yerteresi

Mavi Boncuk | 

Tereyağı: Fresh [1] butter[2]

[ anon., et-Tuhfetu'z-Zekiyye fi'l-Lugati't-Türkiyye,  1400]

zubd [Ar]: kere yavı [taze tereyağı] tere yağı "taze yağ" [ Ahterî-i Kebir, 1545]

from Persian tara تره taze, yaş.

Rugan/revgan  clarification of tereyağ to extend shelf life. see Ghee[4], Clarified butter[5]

Yağ: Oil[3]

OldTR: [ Irk Bitig,  900]

yaġlıġ kamıç bulupan yalġayu tirilmiş [yağlı kaşık bulup yalayarak hayatta kalmış] OldTR: [ Kaşgarî, Divan-i Lugati't-Türk, 1073]

yāġ: al-duhn (...) saġ yāġ. tereyağı - Oghuz call animal fat as yāġ.

OldTR yāġ hayvansal yağ(animal) or süt (milk) yağı.

Tāze: [MEd y. 1300] sevinç, yüz açuklukı, yüz tāzeliki [ Evliya Çelebi, Seyahatname,  1683] Hazreti Yahyānın cesed-i şerīfi ol deyrde ter ü tāze dururdufrom Persian tāza تازه yeni TR; fresh, new EN, diri, canlı, cari  OldPersian tāzag/tāzig koşan, diri OldPersian taχtan, tāz- koşma. sim.  Tazı TR; hound EN.

[1] fresh (adj.1) c. 1200, fresh, also fersh, "unsalted; pure; sweet; eager;" the modern form is a metathesis of Old English fersc, of water, "not salt, unsalted," itself transposed from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (cognates: Old Frisian fersk, Middle Dutch versch, Dutch vers, Old High German frisc, German frisch "fresh"). Probably cognate with Old Church Slavonic presinu "fresh," Lithuanian preskas "sweet." 

Sense of "new, recent" is from c. 1300; that of "not stale or worn" is from early 14c.; of memories from mid-14c. The metathesis, and the expanded Middle English senses of "new," "pure," "eager" probably are by influence of (or from) Old French fres (fem. fresche; Modern French frais "fresh, cool"), which is from Proto-Germanic *frisko-, and thus related to the English word. The Germanic root also is the source of Italian and Spanish fresco. Related: Freshly. Fresh pursuit in law is pursuit of the wrong-doer while the crime is fresh.

[2] butter (n.) : Old English butere "butter," general West Germanic (compare Old Frisian, Old High German butera, German Butter, Dutch boter), an early loan-word from Latin butyrum "butter" (source of Italian burro, Old French burre, French beurre), from Greek boutyron, perhaps literally "cow-cheese," from bous "ox, cow" (see cow (n.)) + tyros "cheese" (see tyrosine); but this might be a folk etymology of a Scythian word. 

The product was used from an early date in India, Iran and northern Europe, but not in ancient Greece and Rome. Herodotus described it (along with cannabis) among the oddities of the Scythians. Butter-knife attested from 1818.

[3] oil (n.) : late 12c., "olive oil," from Anglo-French and Old North French olie, from Old French oile, uile "oil" (12c., Modern French huile), from Latin oleum "oil, olive oil" (source of Spanish, Italian olio), from Greek elaion "olive tree," from elaia (see olive). Old English æle, Dutch olie, German Öl, etc. all are from Latin. It meant "olive oil" exclusively till c. 1300, when meaning began to be extended to any fatty, greasy substance. Use for "petroleum" first recorded 1520s, but not common until 19c. The artist's oils (1660s), short for oil-color (1530s), are paints made by grinding pigment in oil.

[4] Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in ancient India and is commonly used in South Asian cuisines, traditional medicine, and religious rituals.

The word ghee comes from Sanskrit: घृत (ghṛta, IPA: [ɡʱr̩t̪ə] 'sprinkled') and has several names around the world Somali: subag, Arabic: سمنة samna, Pashto language: غوړي ġhwaṛee Persian: روغن حیوانی roghan-e heiwâni, Kurdish: ڕۊنِ دان řün-i Dan, Georgian: ერბო erbo.

[5] Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to separate by density. The water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are skimmed off, and the remainder of the milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind when the butter fat (which would then be on top) is poured off.