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aldaba

door knocker; also a latchpieza de metal para llamar a la puerta; también pestillo

Comes from Arabic

الضَّبَّة

aḍ-ḍabba

“the latch, the wooden bolt”«el pestillo, el cerrojo de madera»

Arabic today says

مِطْرَقَة البَاب

miṭraqat al-bāb

Root

ض ب ب

ḍ-b-b

The article

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

The story

In al-Andalus ḍ was pronounced with a lateral friction, like an l followed by d; that is why aḍ-ḍabba gave aldaba, just as al-qāḍī gave alcalde.En al-Andalus la ḍ se pronunciaba con un roce lateral, como una l seguida de d; por eso aḍ-ḍabba dio aldaba, igual que al-qāḍī dio alcalde.

In a sentence

Llamó dos veces con la aldaba.

He knocked twice with the door knocker.

طَرَقَ البَابَ مَرَّتَيْنِ بِالمِطْرَقَة.