For several centuries, Spain was not controlled by Spaniards.
In 711, the Arabic-speaking Umayyad dynasty from North Africa—also known as the Moors—crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to begin their occupation of what is now modern-day Spain.
They Islamized the Iberian Peninsula, renaming Spain Al-Andalus and declaring Arabic as the official language. The cities they established as vibrant learning centers, including Granada, Seville, and Cordoba, still thrive today.
Philologist Rafael Lapesa, a Spanish historian and former director of the Spanish Royal Academy, says that about 4,000 words in modern Spanish have Arabic origins; furthermore, in his book Historia de la lengua española, he claims that “the Arabic element was, after Latin, the most important in Spanish vocabulary until the 16th century.”
One realm of Arabic influence—both linguistically and historically—is through food and architecture. By introducing new agricultural techniques (such as irrigation and grain storage) and bringing novel crops (such as sugar cane and saffron) to the peninsula, words such as aceite (oil), alberca (water tank), and limón (lemon) were adopted into Spanish. A well-known, Arabic-derived word is the word for sugar; the Arabic word sukkar and the Hispanic-Arabic assúkkar eventually transformed into the azúcar we’re familiar with today.
Another realm of influence is through the military. Due to the history of occupation, aljaba (quiver), zaga (rear), and alcazabas (citadels) are among some of the words adopted from Arabic. Scientific terminology like algoritmo (algorithm), álgebra (algebra), and cifra (cipher) were also adopted.
Religion also played an important role. A famous phrase used across all of the Spanish speaking world is ojalá meaning hopefully or, more literally, “god willing”. It stems from the Arabic word إن شاء الله (iin sha’allah) that has the exact same meaning; the –alá portion of ojalá is the word for god in Arabic, allah.
Finally, a final interesting remnant of Arabic influence is the integration of the article al- with Spanish nouns. Al, in Arabic, is a definite article like “the” is in English; many Arabic loanwords in Spanish start with a- or al- and have given rise to words such as almohada, alhelí, and albarán.
Ultimately, the current inseparability of Spanish and Arabic demonstrates a valuable truism. The development of language is not an isolated phenomenon: It’s a constantly evolving reflection of what people value and experience, and for the Spaniards this occurred through Moorish dominion that would last nearly 800 years.