also Scheherazade, the narrator of the "Arabian Nights;" the name was used by 1807 in reference to "(young, attractive, female) teller of long tales."

historical country or region east of Persia between Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea, now forming southwestern Pakistan, from the people-name Baluchi (in English from 1610s) + -stan.

1933 (Sa'udis), from Sa'ud, family name of the rulers of Nejd from 18c. and of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1932. The name is from Arabic sa'd "good fortune, happiness." With common Semitic national designation suffix -i. Related: Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabian.

name of a hero in stories from the "Arabian Nights," from Arabic Ala' al Din, literally "height (or nobility) of the faith," from a'la "height" + din "faith, creed." Figurative use often in reference to his magic lamp, by which difficulties are overcome, or his cave full of riches.

Middle English Saracene, Sarcene, Sarazyn, Sarasine, "a Turk; an Arab; a Muslim," from Old English (in translations from Latin), from Old French Saracin, Sarrasine or Medieval Latin Saracenus, from Greek sarakenos. This usually is said to be from Arabic sharquiyin, accusative plural of sharqiy "eastern," from sharq "east, sunrise," but this is not certain. In medieval times the name was associated with that of Biblical Sarah (q.v.).

Peple þat cleped hem self Saracenys, as þogh þey were i-come of Sarra [Ranulph Higden’s "Polychronicon," mid-14c., John Trevisa's translation,  1380s ]

It was the name Greeks and Romans gave to the nomads of the Syrian and Arabian deserts and the inhabitants of Arabia Felix, in the West it took on a sense of "Middle Eastern Muslim" from the Crusades. It also could be applied to any non-Christian people against whom a crusade was preached (the pagan Lithuanians), and in Middle English it was used generally for "one who is not a Christian or Jew; heathen, pagan"  (mid-13c.). From c. 1300 as an adjective. Related: Saracenic; Sarcenism ("Islam"), and compare sarsen. Sarsinrie, "the Saracen people or country," is attested in mid-15c.