Zeri Islam

Not only was Muslim Spain artistic, scientific and commercial, but it also exhibited incredible tolerance, imagination and poetry. Moors, as the Spaniards call the Muslims, populated Spain for over 700 years (711 - 1492 AD).

If you speak either Spanish or English, you probably know more Arabic than you think you do.

After Latin and English, Arabic is probably the biggest contributor of words to the Spanish language, and a large portion of English-Spanish cognates (words that the two language share) that don't come from Latin come from Arabic.

The English words you're most likely to think of as Arabic origin are those that start with "al-," words such as "algebra," "Allah," "alkali" and "alchemy," and they exist in Spanish as algebra, Ala, alkali and alkimia, respectively. But these are not the only Arabic words in Spanish. A variety of other types of common words such as "coffee,' "zero" and "sugar" (cafe, cero and azucar in Spanish) also come from Arabic.

The etymology of English words goes beyond the scope of this article, but the introduction of Arabic words in Spanish began in the eighth century, although even before then, some words of Latin and Greek originally had roots in Arabic.

Muslim watchtower along the river Guadaliquivir in Spain

People living in what is now Spain spoke Latin at one time but over the centuries Spanish and other Romance languages such as French and Italian gradually differentiated themselves. The Latin dialect that eventually became Spanish was highly influenced by the the Arabic-speaking Moors in 711. For many centuries, Latin/Spanish and Arabic existed side by side, and even today many names of Spanish places retain Arabic roots. e.g. The name Gibraltar derives from the Arabic Jabal-al-Tarik [mount of Tarik].

It wasn't until late in the 15th century that the Spanish inquisition expelled the Muslims, and by then literally thousands of Arabic words had become part of Spanish.

There are nearly 5000 words of Arabic origin in Spanish. Following are just some of the most common Arabic origin Spanish words you'll come across. As you can see, many of the words also are a part of English. Although it is believed that the English words like "alfalfa" and "alcove," which originally were Arabic, entered English by way of Spanish (alfalfa and alcoba), most Arabic words in English probably entered English by other routes.

Arabic-origin Spanish words


English

aceite


oil

adobe


adobe

aduana


customs - as at a border

ajedrez


chess

Ala


Allah

al-acran


scorpion

al-bacora


albacore

al-bahaca


basil

al-cade


mayor

al-coba


bedroom, alcove

al-cohol


alcohol

al-dea


village - alderman

al-fombra


carpet

al-garroba


carob

al ghattas


alcatraz - as pelican

al-godon


cotton

al-gontmo


algorithm

al-kimia


alchemy

al-macen


storage

al-manaque


almanac

al-mirante


admiral

al-mohada


pillow

al-qasr


alcazar - fortress

al-quiler


rent

amalgama


amalgam

arroz


rice

asesino


assassin

atun


tuna

ayatola


ayatollah

azafran


saffron

azucar


sugar

azul


blue - azure

bano


bathroom

barrio


district

berenjena


eggplant

cafe


coffee

cero


zero

chisme


gossip, gadget

Coran


Koran

cuzcuz


couscous

dado


die - singular of "dice"

embarazada


pregnant

espinaca


spinach

fez


fez

fulano


what's-his-name

gacela


gazelle

guitarra


guitar

hachis


hashish

haren


harem

hasta


until

iman


imam

jaque


check - as in chess

jaque mate


checkmate

jirafa


giraffe

laca


lacquer

lila


lilac

lima


lime

limon


lemon

macabro


macabre

marfil


marble

masacre


massacre

masaje


massage

mascara


mask

mazapan


marzipan

mezquita


mosque

momia


mummy

mono


monkey

naranja


orange

ojala


I hope, God willing

ole


bravo

paraiso


paradise

rehen


hostage

rincon


corner, nook

sorbete


sherbet

sofa


sofa

rubio


blond

talco


talc

tamarindo


tamarind

tarea


task

tarifa


tariff

toronja


grapefruit

zanahoria


carrot