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:''For other uses, see Saracen (disambiguation).''
In older Western historical literature, the 'Saracens' were the people of the 'Saracen Empire', another name for the Arab Empire (Muslim Caliphate) under the rule of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties.
The term 'Saracen' comes from Greek ''Σαρακηνός'', which has often been thought to be derived from the Arabic word ''sharqiyyin'' ("easterners"), though the OED (s.v.) calls etymologies from this "not well founded". In the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the Saracens were a nomadic Arab tribe from the Sinai Peninsula, but later the Greek-speaking subjects of the Empire applied it to all Arabs. After the rise of Islam, and especially at the time of the Crusades, its usage was extended to whom today are called Muslims, particularly those in Sicily and southern Italy.^[1]
In Christian writing, the name was made to mean "those empty of Sarah" or "not from Sarah," as Arabs were, in Biblical genealogies, descended from Hagar and also called the Hagarenes (''Ἀγαρηνοί''). According to the Arthurian Lancelot-Grail Cycle, the name derives from Sarras, an island important in the Quest for the Holy Grail.
John of Damascus, himself a resident of the Caliphate's capital city, described the Saracens in the early 8th century with the view prevalent among Westerners of the time:
:There is also the people-deceiving religion of the Ishmaelites, the forerunner of the Antichrist, which prevails until now. It derives from Ishmael, who was born to Abraham from Hagar, wherefore they are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites. And they call them Saracens, inasmuch as they were [sent away] empty-handed by Sarah (ἐκ τῆς Σάῤῥας κενούς); for it was said to the angel by Hagar: "Sarah has sent me away empty-handed" (cf. Genesis xxi. 10, 14).
:These, then, were idolaters and worshippers of the morning star and Aphrodite whom in fact they called Akbar (Chabar) in their own language, which means "great". So until the times of Heraclius they were plain idolaters.

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★ History of Islam in southern Italy

References

1. Where's Where: A Descriptive Gazetteer, , , , Eyre Methuen Ltd., 1974, ISBN 0-413-32290-4