Part of Today's homework was to listen to tracks #17 and #18 on the Language Transfer app. Which after listening I realized I hadn't slept through the origin of azúcar but my peer coach had skipped ahead. Way to mess with me Joyce! 😜😜
I agree with her though, the Arabic origins of many of the Spanish words was so interesting. According to Wikipedia the Arabic influence dates back to Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula between 711 and 1492.
Wikipedia - Arabic language influence on Spanish words
They guess about 4000 words or 8% of the Spanish dictionary has Arabic influence. Mihalis says that "al" means "the" in Arabic, so chances are good that if the word starts with "al" it has an arabic influence.
Here are some examples:
alcalde: Mayor. From Arabic al-qadi (the judge). Qadi comes from the verb qada (to judge)
almuerzo: Lunch. Arabic al- + Latin morsus (bite)
barrio/barriada: Area, district or neighbourhood in a town. From Arabic barri "outside"
hasta: "Until". From Arabic hatta (same meaning). Influenced by Latin phrase 'ad ista'
tarea: Task. From Arabic ṭaríḥaand root طرح, "to throw"
Tarea as we all know is also the word for homework. And it's derived from the Arabic word meaning "to throw"?? I feel like there's a joke in there somewhere.
Ah,I realized that I’d skipped ahead when I listened to today’s assignment!! I don’t watch the blank screens, and there’s no indication when the next lesson starts!
ReplyDeleteGreat research on the Arabic roots of words!
Just keeping you on your toes!!