In Spanish there are about 4000 words of arab origin, and that is a lot. Many, many of them are of very common use. And, by the way, this is one of the significant differences between Spanish and Italian - that doesn't have them.
This includes, as has partially been said:
This is an "alberca"... In Spain
There's even a (beautiful) village called "La alberca", in the province of Salamanca
And this is a video about Arabic words in Spanish:
This includes, as has partially been said:
- Most of the many words that start with "al-" (almohada, alguacil, alcalde, almoneda, alcázar, álgebra, algoritmo, alcalino, almirante... I could go on and on).
- Some words with a letter "h" between two vowels: azahar, zanahoria, alfahar...
- Terms related with chemistry and substances: aceite, café, ámbar, soda, elixir...
- Terms related to commerce: aduana, arancel, tarifa, tara...
- Musical instruments: laúd, guitarra, tambor...
- Many plants and flowers: acelga, albahaca, alubia, azafrán, azahar, espinaca, lila, amapola...
- Other words: Ajedrez, asesino, jaqueca, azafata, sirope...
It might be that some of these words are more used in other countries as Andres Romero Mier y Terán points out?, I couldn't be sure of this - but we do have albóndigas (more like meat balls, slightly different to Mexico's, smaller and no egg inside), fideos - and albercas!.
It is true that we use "alberca" to describe water deposits used for crop watering, and "piscina" for swimming pools - and find it funny to see "olympic albercas" when we travel to Mexico, so it is a less common term in this side of the... alberca ;-)Also in Spain there are many, many places with Arab names. Many rivers are called Guada-xxxx (Wad = River), specially in southern Spain. Other than that the list Spanish places with an originally arab name is endless, probably including Madrid, Magerit).
This is an "alberca"... In Spain
There's even a (beautiful) village called "La alberca", in the province of Salamanca
And this is a video about Arabic words in Spanish:
Al as a prefix denotes a word of Arabic origin. That is the most common linguistic remnant. It is an article and cognate of El. Spain was occupied by Romans and then Visigoths before the influx of Arabic Muslims in 711. I use the term Arab and Muslim interchangeably here.
The biggest linguistic influence was the place names. (FWIW in Britain you can track which language and therefore which ethnic group was indigenous by place names , a fascinating way to look at history.)
Al Andalus became Andalusia which is essentially the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula.
Because the Arabs had learned paper making from the Chinese, they brought it to the remainder of their empire including Spain. The ready availability of writing material drew scholars. During the occupation scholars needed to be bi-lingual in Latin and Arabic. The intellectual climate which allowed the study of mathematics and science was also a factor. Even after the people were expelled in 1492 ( a busy year for Ferdinand and Isabella: out went Columbus,the Arabs and the Jews), the concepts and the terms remained without any Latin/Vulgate substitute for the words. Thus we have algebra and algorithm in Spanish and in English..
Aceite or olive oil comes from al-zeitan; azure from azul.
Place names and descriptors include the Alcazar ( a castle) and Alcatraz which means sea bird rather than prison or fortress. Words that start with gua which tend to be pronounced "gwa" are thought to be derived from the Arabic wadi or river, thus Guadalquivir and Guadalajara. The name Gibraltar is a corruption of the name of the first Muslim general to invade Spain Jabal Tariq ibn (son of) Ziyad : .The Arabic name for Gibraltar is Jabal Tariq (mountain of Tariq).
Sometimes the article has been dropped. . Al-sukkar became azucar which in English is sugar.
UPDATE: I came across this link which is a table showing the words in Romance languages, including Spanish, which are directly influenced by Arabic.
Arabic Influences in Various Languages
I am not a linguist although the subject fascinates me. I will defer to someone with better credentials for additions and corrections.
The biggest linguistic influence was the place names. (FWIW in Britain you can track which language and therefore which ethnic group was indigenous by place names , a fascinating way to look at history.)
Al Andalus became Andalusia which is essentially the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula.
Because the Arabs had learned paper making from the Chinese, they brought it to the remainder of their empire including Spain. The ready availability of writing material drew scholars. During the occupation scholars needed to be bi-lingual in Latin and Arabic. The intellectual climate which allowed the study of mathematics and science was also a factor. Even after the people were expelled in 1492 ( a busy year for Ferdinand and Isabella: out went Columbus,the Arabs and the Jews), the concepts and the terms remained without any Latin/Vulgate substitute for the words. Thus we have algebra and algorithm in Spanish and in English..
Aceite or olive oil comes from al-zeitan; azure from azul.
Place names and descriptors include the Alcazar ( a castle) and Alcatraz which means sea bird rather than prison or fortress. Words that start with gua which tend to be pronounced "gwa" are thought to be derived from the Arabic wadi or river, thus Guadalquivir and Guadalajara. The name Gibraltar is a corruption of the name of the first Muslim general to invade Spain Jabal Tariq ibn (son of) Ziyad : .The Arabic name for Gibraltar is Jabal Tariq (mountain of Tariq).
Sometimes the article has been dropped. . Al-sukkar became azucar which in English is sugar.
UPDATE: I came across this link which is a table showing the words in Romance languages, including Spanish, which are directly influenced by Arabic.
Arabic Influences in Various Languages
I am not a linguist although the subject fascinates me. I will defer to someone with better credentials for additions and corrections.
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