E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Sar’acens.
Ducange derives this word from Sarah (Abraham’s wife); Hottinger from the Arabic saraca (to steal); Forster from sahra (a desert); but probably it is the Arabic sharakyoun or sharkeyn (the eastern people), as opposed to Mag’haribë (the western people—i.e. of Morocco). Any unbaptised person was called a Saracen in mediæval romance. (Greek, Suralknos.)
1
“So the Arabs, or Saracens, as they are called … gave men the choice of three things.”—E. A. Freeman: General Sketch, chap. vi. p. 117.
nos.)
