Very interesting and very useful, thanks Shui.
"La herencia árabe en España" has been shared to the blog from the Spanish reading practice section of the learning library where you can find a large selection of interactive texts to help you with your reading skills.
Spanish online reading and listening practice – level B2
This reading and listening exercise is about the influence of Arabic culture on Spain and the Spanish language. This is suitable for level B2 Spanish students and contains some C1 grammar points.
Background
For nearly 800 years, Arabs from North Africa, frequently referred to as “Moors” (Spanish = moros), were the dominant rulers of a vast part of what is now modern-day Spain. Their influence left an indelible mark on Spanish architecture, culture, food and the Spanish language. Discover more about this important part of Spanish history with our bilingual reader.
Exercise: La herencia árabe en España
Watch the video, then read the transcript. Click any phrase for the translation and links to related grammar lessons which you can add to your Kwiziq notebook to practise later. Keep scrolling down to see vocabulary and study lists associated with this exercise.
- What's this?
Vocabulary and study lists
Here are the vocabulary and study lists associated with this reader:
- Subordinating Conjunctions
- Common expressions followed by the Subjunctive
- Subject Pronouns
- Coordinating Conjunctions
- Prepositions
- Subordinate Conjunctions
- Time Adverbs
- Adverbs of place
- Quantitative Adverbs
- Invariable Adjectives ending in -e and -a
- Arabicisms in Spanish
- Idiomatic Phrases with por
- Spanish numbers 100-1000
How did you find this exercise? Did you know any other Spanish words that come from Arabic that we haven’t included in our list above? Leave a comment below!
Author info
Shui is Kwiziq's Content and Language Manager and Head of Spanish. She is an experienced technical writer, translator and project manager. Shui grew up bilingual English-Spanish in the UK, completing her studies in London, Madrid and Paris where she now lives. She speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian. Her love of languages and technical knowledge make her a perfect fit for Kwiziq.
Comments: 5
¡Hola Alan! Albondiga does indeed come from arabic ("bunduqa" = ball). Well done!
However the origin of almuerzo remains unclear and the Real Academia believe it comes from the Latin "admordiare" - itself from the verb "mordere" meaning to bite (compare to morder in modern Spanish). Don't despair though, you were quite right to think of it as there's some debate around whether it is a hybrid Arabic-Latin word! Depending on how advanced your Spanish is there was an interesting article about it in El Mundo a few years ago: http://www.elmundo.es/blogs/elmundo/paco-a-la-naranja/2014/09/14/al-morsus-de-cabila-laculturadelalmuerzo.html
Thanks for reminding me about this!
Best Shui