Some Common Spanish "al-" Nouns of Arabic Origin

Abstract

Since Spanish developed out of the Latin spoken in the Iberian peninsula, foreign elements found their way into the Vulgar Latin spoken there: linguistic practices and usages, Ibero-Celtic words, and borrowings from the Carthaginians, Phoenicians, and Greeks. In the course of its history Spanish has demonstrated an almost unlimited ability to adopt and assimilate foreign elements. During the Arabic rule, Spanish assimilated a great amount of Arabic linguistic material, but at no time did the inhabitants, even in the south, relinquish their Romance tongue. This Vulgar Latin was, and remained throughout the Arabic domination, the language of everyday life; it was spoken in all unofficial dealings, in the market places, and by women and children. Arabic was the language of administration, literature, and of high-class families claiming Arabic descent. This Spanish language of the south (Mozarabic) was quickly accepted in the Visigothic capitals and other large cities; at the same time, however, the Visigothic development of spoken Latin continued. But because of its isolation the Spanish of 'Al-Andalus' relied to a very great extent on Arabic for its new concepts. It was through the Mozarabs, the Spanishspeaking Christians under Moslem rule, that a considerable stock of Arabic words was introduced into Spanish. Since the Arabs were the executors of administrative policies, the leaders in social conventions as well as in commerce and the various industrial enterprises, it is largely from these cultural areas that the Mozarabs borrowed Arabic names and terms which they carefully fitted to Romance standards or norms. In the process of borrowing and assimilation, the existing Spanish was primarily co cerned with the integration of Arabic final consonants, the simplification of difcult consonants and consonant combinations offensive and irreconcilable to Romance. For final consonants only nouns are of decisive importance, since verbs were given purely Romance terminations. We are here concerned only with some of t e most common Spanish nouns which clearly reveal the Arabic article 'al-.' It was the practice in medieval loan-words to take over the Arabic article 'al-' as