alcazaba

Spanish

FWOTD – 23 August 2014

Etymology

From Andalusian Arabic القصبة (al-qaṣába(t)), from Arabic قَصَبَة (qaṣaba); cognate to English casbah.

Pronunciation

  • (Castilian) IPA(key): /alkaˈθaba/, [alkaˈθaβa]
  • (Latin America) IPA(key): /alkaˈsaba/, [alkaˈsaβa]

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 before it is soon left in the hands of the people that crucified Christ…»

Further reading

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