sallow
n.
"shrubby willow plant," Old English sealh (Anglian salh), from Proto-Germanic *salhjon (cognates: Old Norse selja, Old High German salaha, and first element in German compound Salweide), from PIE *sal(i)k- "willow" (cognates: Latin salix "willow," Middle Irish sail, Welsh helygen, Breton halegen "willow"). French saule "willow" is from Frankish salha, from the Germanic root. Used in Palm Sunday processions and decorations in England before the importing of real palm leaves began.
adj.
Old English salo "dusky, dark" (related to sol "dark, dirty"), from Proto-Germanic *salwa- (cognates: Middle Dutch salu "discolored, dirty," Old High German salo "dirty gray," Old Norse sölr "dirty yellow"), from PIE root *sal- "dirty, gray" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic slavojocije "grayish-blue color," Russian solovoj "cream-colored"). Related: Sallowness.