Every language on the left-hand road says this fruit with an n in front: nāraṅga, nārang, nāranj, Spanish naranja, right up until Italian, where it vanishes. It did not wear away. The usual explanation is a new article boundary: a proposed una narancia became un’arancia. The intermediate is reconstructed.
The rebracketing account of the lost n is the standard one and is still hedged in the sources: Etymonline says “probably.” The Sanskrit word is itself thought to be a loan, most likely from Dravidian, and its deeper origin remains uncertain.
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Dates follow the earliest cited evidence for the form and sense shown. Notes name the sources. Timeline spacing is compressed; undated stages are placed in sequence.