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aldea

small village, hamletpueblo pequeño

Comes from Arabic

الضَّيْعَة

aḍ-ḍayʿa

“the estate, the farm”«la finca, la granja»

Arabic today says

قَرْيَة

qarya

Root

ض ي ع

ḍ-y-ʿ

The article

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

The story

A ḍayʿa was a rural estate; in the Arabic of the Levant ḍayʿa still means "village". The Andalusi ḍ, pronounced laterally, gave -ld- (as in aldaba and alcalde), and the ʿ was lost.La ḍayʿa era una finca rural; en el Levante árabe ḍayʿa todavía significa «aldea». La ḍ andalusí, de pronunciación lateral, dio -ld- (como en aldaba y alcalde), y la ʿ se perdió.

In a sentence

Mis abuelos vivían en una aldea de Galicia.

My grandparents lived in a village in Galicia.

كَانَ جَدَّايَ يَعِيشَانِ فِي قَرْيَةٍ صَغِيرَةٍ فِي غَالِيسْيَا.