Muslim, Moslem, Musselman, Mohammadean...why have the names used in English to refer to followers of Islam varied so much over time?

by AH_LA_questioner

My apologies in advance if anyone takes offense to seeing these words. My small amount of research so far indicates that some of these terms are taken pejoratively, but I'm not aware of the level of insult they imply. I am only asking about them in a purely knowledge-driven manner and I mean no insult.

I have seen many terms used to describe followers of Islam in English, with almost all modern sources using "muslim", but older sources being much more varied. Why are there so many different usages? When did new terms come into favor or fall out of use? Were any deliberately meant to be insulting? Are they just alternative spellings of one another, or do they have deeper separate meanings?

persimmonmango

A similar question to this has been asked before in this sub, not too long ago, in fact. /u/WelfOnTheShelf linked there to their previous answer here, which I added a little bit more info to.