Saracen
Sign in to saveright|thumb|Depiction of Saracens (Muslims) by Dutch artist [[Erhard Reuwich, 1486]] The word "Saracen" ( ) was commonly used in medieval Europe to refer to a person who lived in or near what the ancient Romans knew as Arabia Petraea and Arabia Deserta. Its original meaning in Greek and Latin is not known with certainty. By the early medieval period, it had come to be associated with the Arabian tribes. Following the rise of Islam, which occurred in Arabia, the word's definition evolved to refer not only to Arabs, but to Muslims taken generally as well. It eventually became the standard adject
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"Saracen" was a term used in medieval Europe to describe people from the Arabian Peninsula and, after Islam's rise, came to refer more broadly to Muslims in general. The word's exact original meaning is uncertain, but it evolved over time from describing specific Arabian tribes to becoming a common European label for Muslim peoples.
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Article
6 sectionsContents
- Early usage and origins
- Medieval usage of the term
- Use in medieval entertainment: Crusade cycle
- See also
- Notes
- Bibliography
right|thumb|Depiction of Saracens (Muslims) by Dutch artist [[Erhard Reuwich, 1486]] The word "Saracen" ( ) was commonly used in medieval Europe to refer to a person who lived in or near what the ancient Romans knew as Arabia Petraea and Arabia Deserta. Its original meaning in Greek and Latin is not known with certainty. By the early medieval period, it had come to be associated with the Arabian tribes. Following the rise of Islam, which occurred in Arabia, the word's definition evolved to refer not only to Arabs, but to Muslims taken generally as well. It eventually became the standard adjective among European Christians for all people and things from the Muslim world, regardless of whether they were Arab in origin.
The oldest known source mentioning "Saracens" in association with Muslims is the Greek-language Christian tract Doctrina Jacobi, which was compiled in the Byzantine Empire amidst the Muslim conquest of the Levant. The word became particularly widespread in European societies during the Crusades, when it was used by the Catholic Church and by several European Christian political and military figures.