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

alcázar

fortified palacepalacio fortificado

Comes from Arabic

القَصْر

al-qaṣr

“the palace, the castle”«el palacio, el castillo»

Arabic today says

قَصْر

qaṣr

And it still does

The article

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

Arabic itself had taken it from Latin.

The story

A round trip: Latin castrum "fortified camp" passed into Arabic as qaṣr and came back to the Peninsula as alcázar.Ida y vuelta: el latín castrum «campamento fortificado» pasó al árabe como qaṣr y volvió a la península como alcázar.

In a sentence

Visitamos el Alcázar de Sevilla.

We visited the Alcázar of Seville.

زُرْنَا قَصْرَ إِشْبِيلِيَة.

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