Английский Этимологический словарь - arab (n.)

- 13c., from O.Fr. Arabe, from L. Arabs, from Gk. Araps (gen. Arabos), from Ar. paarab, indigenous name of the people. Meaning "homeless little wanderer, child of the street" is from 1848. Arabic numerals (actually Indian) introduced in Europe by Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II) after a visit to Islamic Spain in 967-970. A prominent man of science, he taught in the diocesan school at Reims, but the numbers made little headway against fierce conservative opposition in the Church until after the Crusades. The earliest depiction of them in Eng., in "The Crafte of Nombrynge" (c.1350) correctly identifies them as "teen figurys of Inde."