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Saracen

 - 3 dictionary results

Sar⋅a⋅cen

  [sar-uh-suhn]
Use Saracen in a Sentence
–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  [sar-uh-sen-ik] , Sar⋅a⋅cen⋅i⋅cal. of or pertaining to the Saracens.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE < ML Saracēnus < LGk Sarakēnós

Related forms:
Sar⋅a⋅cen⋅ism, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Sar·a·cen   (sār'ə-sən)   
n.  

  1. A member of a pre-Islamic nomadic people of the Syrian-Arabian deserts.

  2. An Arab.

  3. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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