Saracen, n. and a.
(ˈsærəsən)
Forms: α. 1 pl. Sarracene, Sarocine, 3 Sarezin, 3–4 Sarrezin, 3–7 Sarazin(e, 4 -sene, Sarisine, -zene, -ezyne, 4–6 Sarasyn(e, -in(e, 4–7 -cene, (5 Saresoun, -ezen, -esyn, -aseyn, Sarracene, -ysyne), 5–6 Sarazyn(e, Sarrasyn, 5–7 -zen(e, Sarrasin(e, (6 Sarason, -asen, -ezon, 7 -icin, -acin), 3– Saracen. β. 1 pl. Sarcine, 3–5 Sarzin(e, 4–5 -zyn, 4–6 -syn, 5 -sin(e, -s(e)yne, -cyne, -zene, -soun, 6 -son, 9 -zan.
[In OE., ad. late L. Saracēnī pl; in ME., a. OF. Sar(r)azin, -cin, mod.F. Sarrasin (= It. Saracino, Sp. Saraceno, Pg. Sarraceno), ad. late L. Saracēnus, a. late Gr. σαρακηνός.
The ultimate etymology is uncertain. The derivations from Arabic commonly given (of which the most usual is Arab. sharqī eastern, oriental, f. sharq sunrise) are not well founded. In mediæval times the name was often associated with Sarah, the wife of Abraham; St. Jerome (Ezek. viii. xxv) identifies the Saracens with the Agareni (Hagarens, descendants of Hagar) ‘who are now called Saracens, taking to themselves the name of Sara’.]
A. n.
1. a. Among the later Greeks and Romans, a name for the nomadic peoples of the Syro-Arabian desert which harassed the Syrian confines of the Empire; hence, an Arab; by extension, a Muslim, esp. with reference to the Crusades.
| α c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. 12 Moneᵹe þeoda..þæt is, Comagena & Fenitia..Iudea, & Palestina, & Sarracene [orig. absque Saracenis]. a 950 Durham Ritual (Surtees) 196 On india saracena [L. in India Saracenorum]. a 1300 Cursor M. 16 How charles kyng and rauland faght, Wit sarazins wald þai na saght. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 293 Peple þat cleped hem self Saracenys, as þogh þey were i-come of Sarra. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 363 To passe over the grete See To werre and sle the Sarazin. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvii. 99 The lawe of Macomet and of Sarezenis. c 1475 Partenay 309 Lesse worth am I then any sarysyne, Whiche is in beleue of sory mahound! 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 51 He hath quite dryuen out of Spayne the Moores or Sarasens. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 33 That braue Saladin, Souldan of Egipt, with his notable milicia of Mamelucks (by many called Sarasins). 1602 Breton Wonders worth Hearing (Grosart) 7/2 Standing..with a Sarazins face, his nose too long for his lips, his cheekes like the iawes of a horse [etc.]. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iv. 161 The Sarazens are descended of Esau. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 181 From Mecca to the Euphrates, the Arabian tribes were confounded by the Greeks and Latins, under the general appellation of Saracens. 1848 Lytton Harold i. iv, Here..might be seen the swarthy Saracen, with wares from Spain and Afric. 1905 19th Cent. Aug. 268 The African hordes, generically termed Saracens, who were established near Villefranche as late as the early part of the tenth century. |
| β ? a 900 Malchus in Cockayne Shrine (1864) 42 Wit urnon..for sarcina herᵹunge. a 1300 Cursor M. 11072 His [i.e. St. John Baptist's] fest it es in somers time, it halus bath Iu and sarzine. a 1375 Joseph Arim. 55 Þei ferden to A Cite faste bi-syde, Þat was called sarras þer sarsyns sprongen, Erest þorw Abrahames wyf þat wonede þer-inne. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 153 Þat ȝere Sarzyns com out of Egipt into Affrica. a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche i. 36, I sey, ye solem Sarson, alle blake ys your ble. 1530 Palsgr. 265/1 Sarsyn a man. |
† b. A Turk's head for tilting at.
Obs.| 1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. Malvezzi's Rom. & T. 231 Who passionately run their lances against a Saracin of wood. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 228 He carryed away the ring fifteen times on end, and broke as many lances on the Saracen. 1656 R. Flecknoe Relat. 10 Yrs. Trav. x. 26 A solemn Justing or Running at Ring and Sarazen. |
† 2. a. A non-Christian, heathen, or pagan; an unbeliever, infidel.
Obs.| c 1250 Meid. Maregrete ix. 35 Sone wolde þe sarezin habben hire to wiue. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4522 Eiȝte hundred ssipes in to þis londe he broȝte Vol of saracens [MS. δ of Saxons fulle]. a 1300 K. Horn 42 (Cambr. MS.), He fond bi þe stronde,..Schipes fiftene, Wiþ sarazins kene. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 2067 Danmark Sarrazins Þat were of Angys lins. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 151 Nouȝt þorw preyere of a pope..Was þat sarasene [sc. Emperor Trajan] saued. 1433 Lydg. Edmund & Fremund ii. 381 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 403 Edmond that day was Cristis champioun,..Among sarseynes he pleied the lioun. c 1450 Merlin 193 That day Gawein slowgh many a sarazin of the saxouns more than eny of his felowes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 289 That they shall loue, as the chylde his parentes, and the pagane or Sarasyn his false goddes. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 50 Thou art made as ane Pagan, Saracen or Enfidele. |
† b. fig. An ignorant and tasteless person, a ‘barbarian’, ‘Goth’, ‘Vandal’.
Obs.| 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) I. 331 Methinks I hear them..ask what brute of a Saracen it is that draws his ugly weapon for the destruction of learning. |
† 3. The Saracen people or territory.
Obs. [So
OF. sarrazin.]
Cf. Saracené below.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6984 Þai..lefte þe lagh of hei drightin, And ledd þe law of sarazin. Ibid. 22286 Ouer Iubiter and apoline, Þat godds war o sarazine. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 185 Here fadyr was prest of sarysyne [Fr. orig. paenete]. |
4. Comb., as
Saracen-like adj.;
Saracen corn, buckwheat (see
sarrasin);
† Saracen's all-heal,
† comfrey,
† consound,
Senecio saracenicus, said to have been used by the Saracens in healing wounds;
† Saracen's birth-wort = sarazine;
Saracen's corn,
Sorghum vulgare; also
= Saracen corn or buckwheat,
Fagopyrum esculentum;
† Saracen's earth, ? Lemnian earth;
Saracen's head, the head of a Saracen, Arab, or Turk used (
a) as a charge in heraldry, (
b) as an inn sign, etc.;
Saracen's herb = sarazine;
† Saracen's mint = sarazine;
† Saracen's soap, a mixture of soap-lye and olive-oil;
Saracen's stone = sarsen;
† Saracen's woundwort = Saracen's consound.
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 46 We saw a Field sowed with Maez or *Sarazin Corn. 1887 Bentley Man. Bot. 653 The fruits of Fagopyrum esculentum,..Common Buckwheat or Saracen Corn. |
| a 1704 T. Brown Lett. to Gent. & Ladies Wks. 1709 III. ii. 122 His Eye-brows are..somewhat *Saracen-like. |
| 1786 *Saracen's all-heal [see saracenican]. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxcvii. 696 The later writers haue ioined vnto them a fift named *Saracens Birthwoort. |
| 1578 *Saracen's comfrey, *Saracen's consound [see consoude]. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomenclator 109/2 Milium Indicum.., Indian millet: Turkishe wheate, or *Sarracens corne. 1600 R. Surflet tr. Stevens & Liebault's Maison Rustique i. xi. 53 Let her cause to be ground amongst her corne beanes, pease, fetches or sarrasins corne in some small quantitie. 1804 M. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) i. 123 So many different sorts of Corn..the Sarazens' Corn so white, the flax with its blue flowers, the peas so green. |
| 1526 Grete Herball ccccxliv. (1529) Z v, Terra sigillata is otherwyse called *sarazyns erthe or siluered clay. |
| 1510 Nottingham Rec. III. 108 Unius mesuagii nuncupati ‘le *Sarezon' Hed’. 1726 S. Kent Banner Display'd 532 He beareth Gules, a Saracen's Head eras'd at the Neck Argent. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. iv, The coach-yard of the Saracen's-Head Inn. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 142/2 Many of these [charges], such as crosses,..Saracens' heads, &c., were assumed during the Crusades. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomenclator 116/2 Aristolochia sarmentitia..nonnullis herba Saracenica.., *Sarracens herb. |
| 1525 Grete Herball cclxxiv. (1529) P v, It is called mynte romayne, or *sarazyns mynt. |
| 1526 Ibid. cccxcviii. X vj, *Sarazyns sope is made of a lye called capitellium and oyle olyue syden together tyll it be thycke. |
| 1644 Symonds Diary (Camden) 151 A place so full of a grey pibble stone of great bignes as is not usually seene.., the inhabaitants calling them *Saracens' stones. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xcvii. 347 Saracenes Consounde is called in Latine Solidago Saracenica, or Saracens Comfrey,..English Saracens Consound, and *Saracenes Woundwoort. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 326 The true Saracen's Wound-wort Senecio. |
B. adj. a. = saracenic. (By Sir C. Wren erroneously applied to Pointed or ‘Gothic’ architecture.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4247 For men war þar o sarzin lede. c 1450 Lovelich Grail xlv. 721 Whiche were to holden the better lay, whethir the Cristene lawe, Oþer Sarazine. c 1477 Caxton Jason 29 Jason dide do sowne trompettis, tabours, and cornes sarasins. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 279 Let vs daunce the haye, shypmens, sarson, and maurys daunce. Saltemus geranion. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 86 Syria..was with the first subdued to Saracene servitude. 1713 Wren in Parentalia (1750) 297 This we now call the Gothick Manner of Architecture... I think it should with more Reason be called the Saracen Style. 1818 Milman Samor 207 When mad Orlando met On that frail bridge the giant Sarzan king. 1842 Catal. Classic Contents Strawberry Hill 162 A magnificent table of Saracen mosaic. 1862 W. H. Jervis Hist. France v. (1872) 67 The Saracen governor of Saragossa. |
† b. Cookery. In
browet Saracen,
sauce Saracen.
Obs.| ? c 1390 Form of Cury (1780) 44 Sawse Sarzyne. Take heppes and make hem clene, take Almaundes blaunched. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 19 Bruette Sareson. Ibid. 30 Sauke Sarsoun. Take Almoundys, & blaunche hem. Ibid. 113 Saug saraser [so printed]. Tak Almandes, frye hem in oille. |
Hence
† Saracené, the land of the Saracens.
| c 1450 Lovelich Grail xlv. 724 A gret Semble Of Alle the Maistres Of Sarrasene. |