621: Isidore of Seville on the Origins of the Term “Saracens”

Abstract

In his  Etymologiae, Isidore of Seville compiled the ancient knowledge about the pre-Islamic Arab sphere that was available in the Latin West in the early seventh century. Based on the Old Testament, ancient ethnography, and late antique church history, Isidore categorised the pre-Islamic Arabs, known here as Arabes, Ismaelitae, and Saraceni, as aggressive, barbaric, desert dwellers who tried to feign legitimate biblical descent from Abraham’s wife Sara by calling themselves “Saracens.” The article shows that Isidore’s explanation does not concur with alternative etymologies of the ethnonym “Saracens” that have been proposed by historical research.