Arabic influence on the Spanish language overwhelmingly dates from the Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492. The influence results mainly from the large number of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

loanwords and derivations in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, plus a few other less obvious effects.

History

The

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

, also called ''Castilian'', is a

Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language f ...

that evolved from the dialects of Roman

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

spoken in the Iberian peninsula. The first documents written in a language with some features specific of modern Spanish are ascribed to a number of documents from different monasteries in the area of

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...

and

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...

in what is now northern Spain. However, Toledo in central Spain, which became the capital of the early

Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th cent ...

during its southward expansion, is where Spanish began to appear in a written form recognizable today. The pre-existing

Mozarabic Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

dialect of this region (i.e. the Romance present during Muslim rule) is therefore likely to have also had an influence on modern Spanish. The lexical influence of

reached its greatest level during the Christian

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

, when the emerging

conquered large territories from Moorish rulers particularly in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. These territories, which included the former

Taifa of Toledo The Taifa of Toledo () was an islamic polity ('' taifa'') located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula in the high middle ages. It was ruled by the Dhulnunids, a Hawwara Berber clan. It emerged after 1018 upon the fracturing of the Caliphate of ...

, had large numbers of Arabic speakers, as well as many who spoke local Romance dialects (

Mozarabic language Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

) that were heavily influenced by Arabic, both influencing Castilian. It is possible that Arabic words and their derivatives had also been priorly brought into Castilian by Mozarab Christians who emigrated northwards from Al Andalus in times of

sectarian violence Sectarian violence and/or sectarian strife is a form of communal violence which is inspired by sectarianism, that is, discrimination, hatred or prejudice between different sects of a particular mode of an ideology or different sects of a religion ...

, particularly during the times of

Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...

and

Almoravid The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that ...

rule in the 12th and 13th centuries. As such, Arabic can be considered to have had a formative influence on the Spanish language. The degree to which the Arabic language percolated through the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

varied enormously from one period and area to another and is the subject of academic debate. However, it is generally agreed that, in much of the peninsula, Arabic was used among the local elites, Muslims and Christians, and that the prevalent vernacular in many areas was

, a continuum of Arabic-influenced local Romance dialects. Only the southern third of the peninsula became totally Arabized as both Mozarabic and Christianity were extinguished following the Almoravid and Almohad periods. Much of the Arabic influence upon Spanish came through the various

Arabized Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...

Romance dialects that were spoken in areas under Moorish rule, known today by scholars as

. This resulted in Spanish often having both Arabic and Latin derived words with the same meaning. For example, ''aceituna'' and ''oliva'' (olive), ''alacrán'' and ''escorpión'' (scorpion), ''jaqueca'' and ''migraña'' (migraine), ''alcancía'' and ''hucha'' (piggy bank), ''ajonjolí'' and ''sésamo'' (sesame) etc. The influence of the Arabized Mozarabic and of Arabic itself is more noticeable in the Spanish dialects from regions with a longer history of Moorish domination than those where it was shorter-lived. For this reason, the dialects of the southern half of the country, known collectively as ''castellano meridional'' or Southern Castilian, seem collectively to show a higher degree of preference for Arabisms. Northern Spanish dialects tend to prefer Romance synonyms to terms of Arabic origin, such as the Romance ''calendario'' vs. Arabic ''almanaque'', ''hucha'' vs. ''alcancía'', ''espliego'' vs. ''alhucema'', etc. Because Canarian and all Hispanic American

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

s are mainly derived from Southern Castilian, Spanish words of Arabic origin are common in most

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of Modern Spanish. A number of words were also borrowed from

Moroccan Arabic Moroccan Arabic ( ar, العربية المغربية الدارجة, translit=al-ʻArabīya al-Maghribīya ad-Dārija ), also known as Darija (), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghreb ...

principally as a result of Spain's protectorate over Spanish Morocco in the 19th and 20th centuries, although these are of minor significance. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands has also adopted a small number of words from Hassaniya Arabic, principally from Canarian sailors who fish in proximity to the Saharan coast as well as by those Canarians who returned from Western Sahara after the

Green March The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. At that time, the Span ...

of 1975.

Lexical influence

The influence of

on the Spanish language is fundamentally lexical but its other influences are also briefly examined in this article. It is estimated that there are about one thousand Arabic

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

s, and approximately three thousand derived words, for a total of around four thousand words or 8% of the Spanish dictionary. See

Influences on the Spanish language Spanish is a Romance language which developed from Vulgar Latin in central areas of the Iberian peninsula and has absorbed many loanwords from other Romance languages like French, Occitan, Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian. Spanish also has lexic ...

for more on how the number of Arabisms in Spanish has been estimated. The exact number of words of Arabic origin and their derivatives in Spanish is not known, and many words not included on this list are regionalisms: words that are used in certain parts of Spain and/or Hispanic America but are generally unknown elsewhere. The high point of Arabic word use in Spanish was in late medieval times and has declined since then, but hundreds are still used in normal conversation. A larger majority of these words are nouns, with a number of

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

s and

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

s derived directly from these nouns, e.g. ''alquilar'' (to rent) and ''alquilado'' (rented) from ''alquiler'' (rent), most of which are excluded from this list. There is also one preposition: ''hasta'' ("until"), and one

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...

: ''he''. There has been little influence on the basic grammatical structure of the language. Many Arabic loanwords in Spanish start with ''a-'' or ''al-'', where these sounds come from the Arabic article ''al-'' (giving just ''a-'' when the Arabic word begins with a solar letter). This initial ''a(l)-'' is an integral part of the word in Spanish, that is, it's not a

morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. In English, morphemes are often but not necessarily words. Morphemes that stand alone are ...

List of words of Arabic origin

This is an open list of Spanish words acquired ''directly'' from Classical and

Andalusi Arabic Andalusi Arabic (), also known as Andalusian Arabic, was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 9th to the 17th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) once under Muslim rule. It b ...

, listed in alphabetical order. This list includes the Spanish meaning of the word as well as the Arabic

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

. No fixed standard of Arabic transliteration is used. Rationale for inclusion ''Due to the large influence of Arabic on Spanish vocabulary, this list is relatively restrictive:'' *This list has been edited to include only words which are considered to appertain to the Spanish language and the

Hispanic culture The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

and society. Arabic words which may be understood by Spanish speakers, but remain foreign to the Hispanic civilisation such as Ayatolá, Yihad, or Chiita, are excluded from this list. *Only words which have passed directly from Arabic are included. Arabic words which entered the Spanish language through other, non- Iberian,

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

(such as '' Ayatolá'', ''Beduino'', ''Sofá'', or ''sorbete'') are not included. Included as exceptions to this rule are ''álcali'' and ''álgebra'', words of Arabic origin which are thought to have entered Spanish through "

Low Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in ...

"—as suggested by their initial stress (the Arabic definite article ''al-'' is not normally borrowed as a stressed syllable). *Generally, only Spanish root words are listed, derivations (including nouns, verbs or adjectives) not being included. For example, ''aceite'' (from ''az-zeit'', oil) is included but not ''aceitería'', ''aceitero'', ''aceitón'' or ''aceitoso''. On the other hand, ''aceituna'' ( olive) is included since it derives not from ''az-zeit'' but from ''az-zeituna'' in Arabic, even though the root of the ''Arabic'' word is the same. ''Aceituno'' (olive tree), on the other hand, would not be included, since it shares the same root as ''aceituna''. For this reason a significant number of verbs and adjectives are excluded from this list. An exception to this rule may be made when the derived word is much more commonly used than the root word, when the meaning of the derivative has no evident connection with the root word or when it is not clear that one is derived from the other (e.g. horro and ahorrar). *Words derived from

are not included (Mozarabic being fundamentally a

), unless the Mozarabic word is itself derived from classical or Andalusi Arabic. *Words acquired from Berber or

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(or other

Afro-Asiatic languages The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

) are not included. The etymology and meaning of most of these words can be verified on the site of th
Real Academia de la Lengua Española
although a small minority are only available in other sources or past editions of this dictionary. Many of these words will be unfamiliar to many Spanish speakers because their use is restricted to certain regions of Spain or Spanish-speaking countries or they are no longer in regular use. For example, the word for Arabic-derived word for "jewel" alhaja is very common in Mexico whereas in Spain it is restricted to rural areas of the southern half of the country, the alternative Spanish term joya being much more common. On the other hand the Arabic derived term for fruit juice zumo is the standard term in Spain whereas in Hispanic America the Latin-derived jugo or agua are generally used. The Arabic term alberca in Spain refers to agricultural water deposits, whereas in Mexico it is the common term used for swimming pool as opposed to piscina elsewhere or pileta in Argentina.

A (Ababol to Azumbre)

#ababol:

poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug o ...

, in Aragon, Navarre,

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the ...

and

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

. From Andalusian Arabic ''Happapáwr'', a fusion from the Arabic plural ''al-ḥabūb'' (الْحَبُوب), the generic term for "seeds, beans or grains", and the Latin ''papāver''. #abacero: owner of an abacería, small food shop. From Andalusi Arabic ''*ṣaḥb uz-zād'' () "owner of supplies." #abadí: descendant/lineage of ''Mohammed ben Abad'', founder of the Taifa Kingdom of Seville in the 11th century AD. From Andalusi Arabic '' 'abbādī'' (عبّادي). #abalorio: cheap jewellery or jewellery beads. From Andalusi Arabic and Arabic ''al-ballūriy ' (الْبَلُّورِيُِّ) " ade of/ likeglass or clear as crystal". Ultimately from Greek , "beryl" #abarraz: stavesacre (''

Delphinium staphisagria ''Staphisagria macrosperma'', formerly known as ''Delphinium staphisagria'', is a species of '' Staphisagria'' of the family Ranunculaceae. It used to belong to the subgenus or section ''Staphisagria'' of the genus ''Delphinium'', but molecular e ...

''), a medicinal plant. From Andalusian Arabic ''ḥább arrás'' () "head seeds." #abasí: pertaining to the Abbasid dynasty, which overthrew the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

s in the 8th century. #abelmosco: musk seeds, an aromatic plant. From Andalusi Arabic ''ḥabb al musk'' () literally "musk seeds." Classical Arabic ''ḥabbu 'l musk''. #abencerraje: used in expression: "''Zegríes y abencerrajes''", "partisans of opposite interests". The ''Abencerrajes'' (in Arabic ''aban as-sarráǧ'') was an Arabic family of the

Kingdom of Granada ) , common_languages = Official language:Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino , capital = Granada , religion = Majority religion:Sunni IslamMinority religions:Roman ...

, rivals of the Zegríes in the 15th century. #abenuz:

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

. From Arabic ''abanūs'' (أَبَنُوس) of the same meaning but in Arabic referring to the "black wood" of the tropical tree. #abismal: screw in head of a spear. From Arabic ''al-mismar'' (الْمِسْمَر) "nail." #abitaque: a cut of wood used in construction of a certain shape and dimension. From Arabic ''aṭ-ṭabaqah'' (الطَّبَقَة) "layer" or "intermediate chamber" or "group, standard, type". #acebibe: raisin. From Arabic ''az-zabīb'' (الزَّبِيب) of the same meaning but also "dried grape" or "currant" _''Ribes'',_genus_of_berry_plants,_e.g._blackcurrant,_redcurrant_and_white_currant.html" ;"title="Ribes.html" ;"title=" ''

_''Ribes'',_genus_of_berry_plants,_e.g._blackcurrant,_redcurrant_and_white_currant">Ribes.html"_;"title="_''Ribes">_''Ribes'',_genus_of_berry_plants,_e.g._blackcurrant,_redcurrant_and_white_currant #acebuche:_wild_olive_tree,_or_wood_from_such_a_tree._From_Andalusi_Arabic_''azzabbúǧ''. #aceche:_Copper(II)_sulfate">copper_ Copper_is_a__chemical_element_with_the__symbol_Cu_(from__la,_cuprum)_and__atomic_number_29._It_is_a_soft,_malleable,_and_ductile_metal_with_very_high_thermal_and__electrical_conductivity._A_freshly_exposed_surface_of_pure_copper_has_a__pinkis_...

,_ _''Ribes'',_genus_of_berry_plants,_e.g._blackcurrant,_redcurrant_and_white_currant">Ribes.html"_;"title="_''Ribes">_''Ribes'',_genus_of_berry_plants,_e.g._blackcurrant,_redcurrant_and_white_currant #acebuche:_wild_olive_tree,_or_wood_from_such_a_tree._From_Andalusi_Arabic_''azzabbúǧ''. #aceche:_Copper(II)_sulfate">copper_ Copper_is_a__chemical_element_with_the__symbol_Cu_(from__la,_cuprum)_and__atomic_number_29._It_is_a_soft,_malleable,_and_ductile_metal_with_very_high_thermal_and__electrical_conductivity._A_freshly_exposed_surface_of_pure_copper_has_a__pinkis_...

,_Iron(II)_sulfate">iron_ Iron_()_is_a__chemical_element_with_Symbol_(chemistry),_symbol_Fe_(from__la,_Wikt:ferrum,_ferrum)_and_atomic_number_26._It_is_a_metal_that_belongs_to_the_first_transition_series_and_group_8_element,_group_8_of_the_periodic_table._It_is,_Abundanc_...

Hypothesis of the Verb–subject–object (VSO) sentence structure

The Linguistics of Spanish: Basic word order in Spanish
/ref> However, as all Romance languages, modern Spanish is classified in linguistic typology as an Subject–verb–object, SVO language, because this order of constituents is considered the most Markedness, unmarked one. In 1981, Spanish philologist :es:Rafael Lapesa, Rafael Lapesa hypothesized that VSO sentence orders being more frequent in Spanish and Portuguese than other Romance languages was likely due to a Semitic languages, Semitic (presumably Arabic) input in the language. Lapesa at the time considered that the topic had not been sufficiently investigated and required a more rigorous comparative study of Spanish with other Romance and Semitic languages.''Historia de la lengua española, Madrid, Gredos (8.ª reimp. de la 9.ª de corr. y aum. 1981; 1.ª ed. 1942), Lapesa, R.'' (1995), § 36.6. ''El orden de palabras normal en la frase árabe y hebrea situa en primer lugar el verbo, en segundo el sujeto y a continuación los complementos. Como en español y portugués el verbo precede al sujeto con mas frecuencia que en otras lenguas romances, se ha apuntado la probabilidad de influjo semítico. La hipótesis necesitaría comprobarse con un estudio riguroso del orden de palabras español en sus distintas épocas y niveles, parangonado con el de las demás lenguas románicas, el árabe y el hebreo. Tal estudio no existe aún; las comparaciones parciales que hasta ahora se han hecho no son suficientes'' A 2008 study concludes that, although the earliest documentation written in Spanish (13th century) can be analysed as having a Verb–subject–object, VSO order, this does not affect documents written after that time. It has also been hypothesized that VSO was still the unmarked order for literary works as late as the 17th century. A 2012 comparative study of Spanish, Italian language, Italian and French language, French showed French to be the most strictly Subject–verb–object (SVO) language of the three followed by Italian. In terms of constituent order, Spanish is the least restricted among the three languages, French is the most restricted, and Italian is intermediate. In the case of French, this is the result of a historical process, as old French was less restricted in word order. As for the VSO order, it is absent from both French and Italian, but not from Spanish.

The suffix í

Arabic has a very common type of adjective, known as the nisba or relationship adjective, which is formed by adding the suffix -ī (masc.) or ية -iyya (fem.) to a noun. This has given Spanish the suffix -í (both masc. and fem.), creating adjectives from nouns which indicate relationship or belonging, mostly for items related to medieval history, or demonyms in Arab. Examples are ''marbellí, ceutí, maghrebí, zaragocí, andalusí'' or ''alfonsí''.

Expressions

A number of expressions such as "¡''Ole''!" (sometimes spelled "''olé''" ), possibly from ''wa'llah'', or ''ojalá'', from ''law sha'a Allah'', have been borrowed directly from Arabic. Furthermore, many expressions in Spanish might have been calqued from their Arabic equivalent. Examples would be ''si Dios quiere'', ''que Dios guarde'' or ''bendito sea Dios''.

Idafa

The Idafa was a feature of the Mozarabic dialects which had a major formative on modern Spanish. Although this morphological structure is no longer in use, it is still widely present in toponyms throughout Spain including names of recent origin such as the suburban colonies of Ciudalcampo and Guadalmar in Madrid and Malaga respectively.

Toponyms (place names) in Spain of Arabic origin

There are thousands of place names derived from Arabic in the Iberian peninsula including provinces and regions, cities, towns, villages and even neighborhoods and streets. They also include geographical features such as mountains, mountain ranges, valleys and rivers. Toponyms derived from Arabic are common in Spain except for those regions which never came under Muslim rule or where it was particularly short-lived. These regions include Galicia (Spain), Galicia and the Northern coast (Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque country) as well as much of Catalonia, Navarre and northern Aragon. Regions where place names of Arabic origin are particularly common are Balearics, Eastern Coast (Valencia (autonomous community), Valencia and

) and Andalusia. Those toponyms which maintained their pre-Islamic name during the Muslim period were generally Arabized, and the mark of either the old Arabic phonology, Arabic pronunciation or the popular pronunciation from which it derived is sometimes noticeable in their modern names: e.g. Latin ''Hispalis'' = Arabic ''Ishbiliya'' = modern Sevilla.

Major towns, cities and regions

*Albarracín City of Aragón. Derived from ''Al Banū Razin'', name of the Berber family of the town. *Alcalá de Henares City in the Community of Madrid. Derived from ''al-qal'a'' (), meaning citadel or fortress. ''Henares'' may also come from the Arabic name for river: ''nahar''. *Alcántara (Alcantara (disambiguation)#Spain, several places) from Arabic ''al qantara'' (القنطرة), meaning "the bridge". *Alcarria Large plateau region east of Madrid covering much of Guadalajara as well as part of eastern Madrid and northern Cuenca. From Arabic ''al-qaryat''. *Axarquía Eastern region of Málaga province, From Arabic ''Ash-sharquía''(): The eastern/oriental (region). *Andalusia, Andalucía Most populated and 2nd largest Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain. Derived from , Al Andalus, the Arabic name for Muslim Iberia, traditionally thought to come in turn from the name of the Vandals. *

city and province of Castilla-La Mancha. Derived from Arabic Al-Basit () ''(the plain)''. *Algarve Region of southern Portugal. From Arabic Al-Gharb (), ''the west''. *Algeciras City and port in Cadiz province. Derived from ''Al Jazeera Al Khadra'' () meaning the ''green island''. *Almería City and province of Andalucía. From Al-Meraya, the watchtower. *Alpujarras (originally ''Alpuxarras'') Region extending South of Granada into Almería. From Arabic ''al-basharāt'': The grasslands. *Calatayud City of Aragón. Derived from ''Qal'at Ayyūb'' (Arabic ) meaning ''"(Ayyūb's) Job's Fortress"''. *Gibraltar British overseas territory and name given to surrounding area in Southern Spain (Campo de Gibraltar). From Arabic ( pronounced ''Jebel Tariq''), "Mountain of Tariq", or ''Gibr al-Tariq'' meaning "Rock of Tariq". * Granada City in Andalusia. Originally Garnata in Andalusi Arabic. From ''Gar-a-nat'', ''Hill of pilgrims''. *Province of Guadalajara, Guadalajara City and province of Castilla la Mancha. From ''Wādī al-Ḥijārah'' (Arabic ), ''River or canyon of Stones''. *Jaén, Spain, Jaén City and province of Andalusia From Arabic ''Jayyan'', crossroads of caravans. *Medina-Sidonia: Town and municipality in Cadiz province, from ''Madina'', city. *Tarifa town in Cadiz province, Andalusia. Originally ''Jazeera Tarif'' (): the island of Tarif. Derived from the first name of the Berber conqueror Tarif ibn Malik. *La Sagra, an arid region between Toledo and Madrid. Name derived from Arabic '' ṣaḥrāʾ'' () ''"desert"''. *Úbeda, a town in Jaén province, Andalusia. From the Arabic ''Ubadat el Arab''. *Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a city in the northwest of Cádiz (province), Cádiz province, Andalusia. "Sanlúcar" may have derived from the Arabic ''shaluqa'' (), the Arabic name for the Levant wind called sirocco or jaloque; "Barrameda" was derived from ''bar-am-ma'ida'', an Arabic phrase for "water well of the plateau".

Geographical features

* Almanzora (river), River Almanzora. Derived from Arabic: Al-Mansura. * Guadiana, River Guadiana. Meaning "River ''Anae''" (from the original Latin name ''Fluminus Anae'', "River of Ducks"). * Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir. Derived from Arabic: Al-Wādĩ Al-Kabir , ''"the big river"''. * Sierra de Javalambre, Javalambre. Mountain in southern Aragon, ''Jabal 'Amr'', meaning "Mountain of 'Amr". * Mulhacén. Highest mountain in peninsular Spain. Named after 15th century Sultan of Granada Abu l-Hasan Ali, Sultan of Granada, Ali Muley Hacén Abu al-Hasan. * Pico Almanzor. Mountain in the Sierra de Gredos, Gredos Mountains of Central Spain. Named after "Almanzor" Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, de facto ruler of Al Andalus in late 10th - early 11th centuries. * Cape Trafalgar. From Andalusi Arabic ''Taraf-al-gharb'' ('Western Cape' or 'Cape of the West').

Given names and surnames

Given names

Almudena (disambiguation), Almudena (from the Virgin of Almudena, patroness of Madrid, Spain) and Fatima (name), Fátima (derived from Our Lady of Fátima) are common Spanish names rooted in the country's Roman Catholic tradition, but share Arabic etymologies originating in place names of religious significance. Guadalupe, a name present throughout the Spanish-speaking world, particularly in Mexico, also shares this feature. A few given names of Arab origin have become present in the Spanish-speaking world. In Spain, this coincided with a more flexible attitude to non-Catholic names, which were highly discouraged during the first decades of the Francoist dictatorship. Arabic names that have been present in Spain for many decades include Omar (name), Omar and Soraya. Zaida is also present in Spain, perhaps after Zaida of Seville, the mistress or wife of King Alfonso VI of Castile in the 11th century. A number of streets throughout Spain bear the name of this Muslim princess. Zahira and Zaira are also popular girls' names of Muslim origin. It is in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in the African continent where Arabic given names are common.

Surnames

Surnames of indirect Arabic origin, such as Medina, Almunia, Guadarrama or Alcaide, are common and often refer to toponyms or professions, but they are not of Arabic origin, properly speaking. Few Arabic surnames explicitly denote Arabic origin since in the 15th and the 16th centuries, religious minorities were required to change their surnames upon baptism to escape persecution. The Muslim minority was specifically compelled to convert and adopt Christian surnames by a series of royal decrees in the 16th century, when Morisco leader Aben Humeya, Muhammad Ibn Ummaya, for example, was born to the Christian name Fernando de Córdoba y Valor. Exceptions to the general rule are rare, but one is the surname "Benjumea" or "Benjumeda", which denotes ancestry from the Ummayad nobility. Currently, fewer than 6,000 Spaniards have this surname. Another, even less common, surname denoting Muslim lineage is "Muley", which is still present in the Spanish South East, and was maintained for its noble lineage.M.ª Jesús Rubiera Mata: "La familia morisca de los Muley-Fez, príncipes meriníes"
(In Spanish)

References

Selected reference works and other academic literature

These works have not necessarily been consulted in the preparation of this article. *Abu-Haidar, J. A. 1985. Review of Felipe Maíllo Salgado, ''Los arabismos del castellano en la baja edad media (consideraciones históricas y filológicas)''. ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', 48(2): 353-354. University of London. *Cabo Pan, José Luis
El legado del arabe
''Mosaico'' 8:7-10. Revista para la Promoción y Apoyo a la Enseñanza del Español. Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia del Reino de España, Consejería de Educación y Ciencia en Bélgica, Países Bajos y Luxemburgo. [Article with convenient, short word lists, grouped by theme. In PDF. Refer t

] *Corominas, Joan. 1980-1991. ''Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico''. Madrid: Gredos. The first edition, with the title ''Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana'' (1954–1957) includes an appendix that groups words according to language of origin. *Corriente, Federico. 2003. ''Diccionario de arabismos y voces afines en iberorromance''. (2nd expanded ed.; 1st ed. 1999) Madrid: Gredos. 607 p. *Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy)
''Diccionario de la lengua española (DRAE)''
online. *Maíllo Salgado, Felipe. 1991/1998. ''Los arabismos del castellano en la Baja Edad Media : consideraciones históricas y filológicas''. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca. 554 p. [2nd ed., corrected and enlarged; 1st ed. 1983] *Ibid. 1996. ''Vocabulario de historia árabe e islámica''. Madrid: Akal. 330 p. * Francisco A. Marcos-Marín, Marcos Marín, Francisco 1998 ''Romance andalusí y mozárabe: dos términos no sinónimos''. Estudios de Lingüística y Filología Españolas. Homenaje a Germán Colón. Madrid: Gredos, 335-341. * Ibid. 1998 ''Toledo: su nombre árabe y sus consecuencias lingüísticas hispánicas''. Revista del Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Islámicos en Madrid, XXX, 1998, 93-108. *Sola-Solé, Josep María. 1983. ''Sobre árabes, judíos y marranos y su impacto en la lengua y literatura españolas''. Barcelona: Puvill. 279 p. *Spaulding, Robert K. 1942/1971.
How Spanish Grew
'. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapter 5: "Arabic Spain", pp. 53–62. *Toro Lillo, Elena. ''La invasión árabe. Los árabes y el elemento árabe en español''. In th

Includes a brief list of historical sound changes. Useful bibliography.

Selected resource pages of universities and research institutes

Instituto de Estudios Islámicos y del Oriente Próximo. Search results consisting of Institute publications whose entries contain the word "arabismos"

Universidad de Granada. Holdings under the subject "arabismos"

External links

by Elena Toro Lillo; Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabic Influence On The Spanish Language Spanish etymology Lists of Spanish words of foreign origin Spanish language Arabic words and phrases Arabic language, L Islam in Spain Language contact

History

Lexical influence

List of words of Arabic origin

A (Ababol to Azumbre)

B

C

D, E

F, G

H, I

J, K

L, M

N, O, P, Q

R, S, T

V, X, Y, Z

Words with a coincidental similarity to Arabic and false arabisms

Other influences