ProbablePlants & animals · Specialized

acebuche

wild olive treeolivo silvestre

Comes from Arabic

الزَّبُّوج

az-zabbūj

“the wild olive tree”«el olivo silvestre»

Arabic today says

زَيْتُون بَرِّيّ

zaytūn barrī

The article

Spanish kept the Arabic article al- glued to the word.

The story

The sun letter z gave the initial a-, as in aceite, and the Arabic j ended up as ch. Though it sounds like aceite, it comes not from zayt but from a different word, zabbūj.La z solar dio la a- inicial, como en aceite, y la j árabe terminó en ch. Aunque suena a aceite, no viene de zayt sino de otra palabra, zabbūj.