alcazaba

Spanish

FWOTD – 23 August 2014

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic قَصَبَة (qaṣaba), via Andalusian Arabic. Cognate with English casbah.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /alkaˈθaba/ [al.kaˈθa.β̞a] (Spain)
  • IPA(key): /alkaˈsaba/ [al.kaˈsa.β̞a] (Latin America, Philippines)
  • Rhymes: -aba
  • Syllabification: al‧ca‧za‧ba

Noun

alcazaba f (plural alcazabas)

  1. a Moorish fortress within or beside a walled city
    • 2012, Isabel San Sebastián, Un Reino lejano, Random House Mondadori, page 210:
      no se transforma una alcazaba en castillo ni una mezquita en catedral para luego dejarla en manos del pueblo que crucificó a Cristo…
      one doesn’t turn a Moorish fortress into a castle, nor a mosque into a cathedral, only to leave it in the hands of the people that crucified Christ…

Further reading

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