The origin of the word Moor or Morisco
The word Moors or Moriscos is often used nowadays to describe the Andalusians from the 8th century until the end of the 15th century. However, looking at their texts and manuscripts, that was never a word that they used to describe themselves, it was never even mentioned that anyone else called them that at the time.
The word Moor doesn’t come from the word Morocco; it comes from the Greek word Mauros meaning ‘inhabitant of Mauretania’.
It first started being used in reference to the Andalusians during the Spanish Inquisition. The Catholic Church and the Monarchs at the time were extremely brutal with their ethnic cleansing, and in order to justify this act of inhumanity, they needed to dissociate the people from the land completely. This is, of course, ridiculous as they have lived there for 800 years, longer than any inhabitants or culture or ethnic group, to this day. It was important for them to deny the existence of an Arabian culture as they were the enemy. And that extreme brutality was needed to erase a culture that was ancient and rich.
Neither Morocco nor Mauretania is an accurate reference to the people of Alandalus since it’s not inclusive of its main people. It was an Arabian empire in every sense, in terms of culture, language, main people, and ruling - with Islam being the main religion. There were other ethnic groups and other religions, like the Amazigh of North Africa and the Andalusian Jews (both making up the largest minorities), and they all lived peacefully together until the massacre of the Spanish Inquisition, which killed all other ethnicities.