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Ojalá
Words
Certain: The standard etymology in the RAE dictionary and in Corriente; no serious doubt.Water & irrigation · Specialized

aceña

water mill for grinding flour, driven by a rivermolino harinero movido por el agua de un río

Comes from Arabic

السَّانِيَة

as-sāniya

“the one that raises water, the water wheel”«la que eleva el agua, la noria»

In Andalusi Arabic: السَّانْيَة as-sanya

Arabic today says

طَاحُونَة مَائِيَّة

ṭāḥūna māʾiyya

Root

س ن و

s-n-w

The article

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

The story

The sāniya was a wheel for raising water; in Spanish it came to name the river mill. The -ny- cluster of as-sanya gave ñ.La sāniya era una rueda para subir agua; en castellano pasó a nombrar el molino de río. El grupo -ny- de as-sanya dio la ñ.

In a sentence

Junto al puente quedan las ruinas de una aceña.

By the bridge stand the ruins of a water mill.

بِجَانِبِ الجِسْرِ أَطْلَالُ طَاحُونَةٍ مَائِيَّة.

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