Saracen - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Sar·a·cen

Audio Help [sar-uh-suh

n] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	History/Historical. a member of any of the nomadic tribes on the Syrian borders of the Roman Empire.

2.	(in later use) an Arab.

3.	a Muslim, esp. in the period of the Crusades.

–adjective

4.	Also, Sar·a·cen·ic Audio Help [sar-uh-sen-ik] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, Sar·a·cen·i·cal. of or pertaining to the Saracens.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE < ML Saracénus < LGk Sarakénós

]

—Related forms

Sar·a·cen·ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Saracen

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sar·a·cen Audio Help (sār'ə-sən) Pronunciation Key
n.

A member of a pre-Islamic nomadic people of the Syrian-Arabian deserts.
An Arab.
A Muslim, especially of the time of the Crusades.

[Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin Saracēnus, from Late Greek Sarakēnos, ultimately from Arabic šarq, east, sunrise; see śrq in Semitic roots.]

Sar'a·cen'ic (-sěn'ĭk) adj.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Saracen

O.E., "an Arab" (in Gk. and Roman translations), also, c.1250, generally, "non-Christian, heathen, pagan," from O.Fr. saracin, from L.L. saracenus, from Gk. sarakenos, usually said to be from Arabic Sharquiyin, pl. acc. of sharqiy "eastern," from sharq "east, sunrise," but this is not certain. In Medieval times the name was associated with that of Biblical Sarah (q.v.).

"Peple þat cleped hem self Saracenys, as þogh þey were i-come of Sarra" [John of Trevisa, transl. Higdon's Polychronicon, 1387]

The name Greeks and Romans gave to the nomads of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Specific sense of "Middle Eastern Muslim" is from the Crusades.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

saracen
noun
1.	(historically) a member of the nomadic people of the Syrian and Arabian deserts at the time of the Roman Empire
2.	(when used broadly) any Arab
3.	(historically) a Muslim who opposed the Crusades

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Saracen

Sar"a*cen\, n. [L. Saracenus perhaps fr. Ar. sharqi, pl. sharqi[=i]n, Oriental, Eastern, fr. sharaqa to rise, said of the sun: cf. F. sarrasin. Cf. Sarcenet, Sarrasin, Sirocco.] Anciently, an Arab; later, a Mussulman; in the Middle Ages, the common term among Christians in Europe for a Mohammedan hostile to the crusaders.

Saracens' consound (Bot.), a kind of ragwort (Senecio Saracenicus), anciently used to heal wounds.

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