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Good question and I am not sure I have the exact answer but AFAIK the name Saracen applied originally to nomadic desert peoples from the area stretching from modern Syria to Saudi Arabia. In broader usage the name applied to all Arabs of the Middle Ages. Why I don´t know though
Saracen:
`Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin Saracnus, from Late Greek Saraknos, ultimately from Arabic sarq, east, sunrise.`
`Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin Saracnus, from Late Greek Saraknos, ultimately from Arabic sarq, east, sunrise.`
So originally it just meant easterners? Sounds reasonable.
Let me catch up on my political correctness - is that term considered a no-no these days?
P.S. Tuna - sorry to hear you're homeless - or at least that is what your location says. But hey, mine says that I am an EU III Beta Tester.
Greg Street, designer for the age of empires says, "The Greek word 'Saracen' first described nomadic Syrians, then Arabs, and was later used by Europeans to describe any Muslim. While the name is most closely tied with Arabs, the Middle East was quite a jumble of cultures in the era of the Crusades. Turks had moved down from Anatolia, Persians had come in from Iran, and much of the area in between was still in the hands of Arabs left over from the conquests of the Prophet. The Crusaders called the whole lot 'Saracens"
Source : http://www.gamespot.com/features/aoe2_saracens/
Not a great reference but most everything else was about a soccer club or in arabic. However from the books I have read (which are at home) it seems this guys assertion that "sacarens" was a generic term used for all muslims in the period is accurate.
Odin
Source : http://www.gamespot.com/features/aoe2_saracens/
Not a great reference but most everything else was about a soccer club or in arabic. However from the books I have read (which are at home) it seems this guys assertion that "sacarens" was a generic term used for all muslims in the period is accurate.
Odin
It is archaic, rather than offensive. It's like calling all Westerners "Franks". Therefore, I'm really hoping that CK will have Saracen culture to reflect the flavour of the period.
Alexandre
Yeah, me too. Perhaps they should have Frankish culture too - French culture with a eastern flavor - for those areas of the Levant where Europeans have conquered the area.
Hey then lets not forget the "Moors" when talking about the North Africans around Morroco.
I believe that Arabs or at least Egyptians still or did until recently describe westerners as Franks. An Arab chronicler who recorded Napoleon's routing of the Mameluks referred to the French forces as Franks.
Don't see why not. After all, the Greeks still call the French Gauls, and it has been a *long* time since Julius Caesar.
Alexandre
Yeah, it's already Saracens in Old English and of course the Vikings called the Middle East 'Serkland'.
An interpolation in Widsith claims he has served with Saracens and 'Serings', Syrians, interesting they still made the distinction.
Incidentally, to Ohthere the Baltic was the Sermendisc (Sarmatian) Sea; the Mediterranean is Wendla- (Vandal) -sae. In my EU2 uchronia skit, 'Engla Land!', Gibraltar is Wendlastan.
An interpolation in Widsith claims he has served with Saracens and 'Serings', Syrians, interesting they still made the distinction.
Incidentally, to Ohthere the Baltic was the Sermendisc (Sarmatian) Sea; the Mediterranean is Wendla- (Vandal) -sae. In my EU2 uchronia skit, 'Engla Land!', Gibraltar is Wendlastan.
This one is also interresting... The people that live in the south of modernday Marocco are called: Berbers.
This comes from the Romans. They called the people in the Sahara Barbarians, hence Berbers.
Also nice to know, the word for Marocco in Turkish...
Ask Tuna and see how much it looks like Fez...
This comes from the Romans. They called the people in the Sahara Barbarians, hence Berbers.
Also nice to know, the word for Marocco in Turkish...
Ask Tuna and see how much it looks like Fez...