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

Author: Daniel G. König

Source

Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiarum libri, ed. Wallace Martin Lindsay, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987, lib. IX, cap. 2,57, no page numbers. Translation adapted from: Isidore of Seville, The Etymologies, trans. Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J.A. Beach, Oliver Berghof, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 195.
[IX,2,57] Saraceni dicti, vel quia ex Sara genitos se praedicent, vel sicut gentiles aiunt, quod ex origine Syrorum sint, quasi Syriginae. Hi peramplam habitant solitudinem. Ipsi sunt et Ismaelitae, ut liber Geneseos docet, quod sint ex Ismaele. Ipsi Cedar a filio Ismaelis. Ipsi Agareni ab Agar; qui, ut diximus, perverso nomine Saraceni vocantur, quia ex Sara se genitos gloriantur.	The Saracens are so called either because they claim to be descendants of Sara or, as some gentiles say, because they are of Syrian origin, as if the word were Syriginae. They live in a very large deserted region. They are also Ishmaelites, as the Book of Genesis teaches us, because they sprang from Ishmael. The Kedar also stem from a son of Ishmael, the Agarenes, from Hagar. As we have said, they are attributed with the perverse name “Saracens” because they pride themselves in being descendants of Sara.

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Daniel G. König, "621: Isidore of Seville on the Origins of the Term “Saracens”", in: Transmediterranean History. Commented Anthology of Primary Sources, ed. Daniel G. König, Theresa Jäckh, Eric Böhme, URL: https://wiki.uni-konstanz.de/transmed-en/index.php/621:_Isidore_of_Seville_on_the_Origins_of_the_Term_“Saracens”. Last Revision: 22.04.2020, Access: 23.04.2024.

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