the modern name "sacavém" might have come from the arabic language; for many years experts believed that it came from the word "šagabi" ("next" or "in the neighbourhood" – in this case, of lisbon, an important city even during moorish period) latinised to "sacabis, -is", becoming "sacabem" in the accusative case, and hence, by phonetic modifications during the centuries, "sacavém". recent investigations, from arabic sources (namely yaqut's "kitab mu'jam al-buldan"), indicate that the muslims used the word "šaqabān" (), incredibly similar to the modern portuguese pronunciation.