amber
‘yellowish translucent resin’
Lexical development traced from the Tamil root:
E. ambyr, aumbry, awmbyr, awmber, amber < Arab. anbar ‘ambergris, morbid secretion of sperm-whale intestines used in perfumes and cookery’ < ambuh < arg < Tamil ar
Semantic evolution: The original meaning of amber, ‘ambergris’ (a morbid secretion of the sperm-whale intestines) was extended to the fossil resin ‘amber’ (since both are found washed up on seashores) by influence of the distinction in French between ambre jaune the resin and ambre gris the whale sperm oil. English retained the differentiation omitting the French identifying color name jaune yellow.