It is thought that Saracen would have originally been used by Romans to denote the Arabian tribes living around the region of Sinai and Petra. Some etymologists have hypothesised that ''Saracen'' may actually have roots in the Arabic languages of the time in which case it would be a bastardisation of ''Shirka'' which means something along the lines of association/partnership. This would made sense since the Romans used Arab Foederati type warbands levied from Arabian tribes to fight off the Sassanids. Perhaps the word caught on and was then bastardised further as it was picked up by other people speaking other languages.