When was the word 'curry' first used?

Solution 1:

Curry meaning sauce is from Tamil, while curry favor is from Old French; the two expressions, despite the spelling, are unrelated:

Curry:

kind of sauce or relish much used in Indian cookery, from the leaves of a southwest Asian plant related to the lemon, 1680s, from Tamil (Dravidian) kari "sauce, relish for rice," also "a bite, bit, morsel."

As "meat or vegetable stew flavored with curry powder," 1747 in British English.

To curry favor:

To curry favor "flatter, seek favor by officious show of courtesy or kindness" is an early 16c. folk-etymology alteration of curry favel (c. 1400) from Old French correier fauvel "to be false, hypocritical," literally "to curry the chestnut horse," chestnut horses in medieval French allegories being symbols of cunning and deceit. Compare German den falben (hengst) streichen "to flatter, cajole," literally "to stroke the dun-colored horse."

(Etymonline)