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Ojalá
Words
Certain: The standard etymology in the RAE dictionary and in Corriente; no serious doubt.Science & games · Common

alambique

still, alembic — an apparatus for distillingaparato para destilar

Comes from Arabic

الأَنْبِيق

al-anbīq

“the still, the alembic”«el alambique»

Arabic today says

أَنْبِيق

anbīq

And it still does

The article

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

Arabic itself had taken it from Greek.

The story

Greek ámbix was a cup; Arab chemists made it the name of the whole still. An n before b is pronounced m, and so alambique was born.El griego ámbix era un vaso; los químicos árabes lo hicieron nombre del destilador entero. La n delante de b se pronuncia m, y así salió alambique.

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