Etymology Dictionary

AMBER,  a fossil resin; ambergris.  (Arabic.)   The resin is named from its resemblance to ambergris, which is really quite a different substance, yet also called amber in early writers.   1. In Holland's Pliny, b. xxxvii. c. 3, the word means the fossil amber.   2. When Beaumont and Fletcher use the word amber'd in the sense of 'scented' (Custom of the Country, iii. 2. 6), they must refer to ambergris.   β. The word is Arabic, and seems to have been borrowed directly.—Ar. ‛amber, ambergris, a perfume; Palmer's Pers. Dict. col. 433.   ¶ Ambergris is the same word, with addition of F. gris, signifying 'gray.'   In Milton, P. R. ii. 344, it is called gris amber.   The F. gris is a word of German origin, from O.H.G. grís, gray, used of the hair; cf. G. greis, hoary. [※]

ERRATA

Perhaps (F.,—Span.,—Arabic) instead of from the Arabic directly.   We find M.E. aumbre, Prompt. Parv.—F. ambre; Cot.—Span. ambar.—Arab. ‛ambar, ambergris, a rich perfume and cordial;' Rich. Dict. p. 1031.