Spanish's Arab Connection

When you think of European culture, one of the first things that may come to your mind is the renaissance. Many of the roots of European culture can be traced back to that glorious time of art, science, commerce and architecture. 

But did you know that long before the renaissance there was a place of immense sophistication and beauty in Muslim Spain?

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