CertainPlants & animals · Everyday

albahaca

basilplanta aromática de hojas verdes

Comes from Arabic

الحَبَقَة

al-ḥabaqa

“the basil”«la albahaca»

Arabic today says

رَيْحَان

rayḥān

Root

ح ب ق

ḥ-b-q

The article

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

The story

The Arabic ḥ stayed as h and swapped places with the b (metathesis): al-ḥabaqa > albahaca. Today ḥabaq is still alive in the Levant; elsewhere people say rayḥān.La ḥ árabe se quedó en h y cambió de sitio con la b (metátesis): al-ḥabaqa > albahaca. Hoy ḥabaq sigue vivo en el Levante; en otras partes dicen rayḥān.

In a sentence

El pesto lleva albahaca.

Pesto has basil in it.

يُصْنَعُ البِيسْتُو مِنَ الرَّيْحَان.