Arabic language influence on the Spanish language
The influence results mainly from the large number of Arabic loanwords and derivations in Spanish, plus a few other less obvious effects.
The first examples of language with some features specific of modern Spanish are ascribed to documents from various monasteries in the area of Burgos and La Rioja[1] in what is now northern Spain.
However Toledo, in central Spain, which became the capital of the early Kingdom of Castile during its southward expansion, is where Spanish began to appear in a written form recognizable today.
The preexisting Mozarabic 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 Arabic reached its greatest level during the Christian Reconquista, when the emerging Kingdom of Castile conquered large territories from Moorish rulers, particularly in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries.
The degree to which the Arabic language percolated through the Iberian Peninsula varied enormously from one period and area to another and is the subject of academic debate.
For example, aceituna and oliva (olive), alacrán and escorpión (scorpion), jaqueca and migraña (migraine), alcancía and hucha (piggy bank), ajonjolí and sésamo (sesame) etc.
A number of words were more recently borrowed from Moroccan Arabic, principally as a result of Spain's protectorate over Spanish Morocco in the 19th and 20th centuries, although these are of minor significance.
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.
Aceituna (olive) Azúcar (sugar) (az-zay-toon) الزيتون (as-suk-kar) السكر Algodón (cotton) Albahaca (Basil) (al-qut-tun) القطن (al-hab-baq) الحبق This is an open list of Spanish words acquired directly from Classical and Andalusi Arabic, listed in alphabetical order.
Rationale for inclusion Due to the large influence of Arabic on Spanish vocabulary, this list is relatively restrictive: The etymology and meaning of most of these words can be verified on the site of the Real Academia de la Lengua Española, although a small minority are available only in other sources or past editions of this dictionary.
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.
(sometimes spelled "olé" ), possibly from wa'llah, or ojalá, from law sha'a Allah, have been borrowed directly from Arabic.
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.
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.
Regions where place names of Arabic origin are particularly common are Balearics, Eastern Coast (Valencia and Murcia) and Andalusia.
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.
