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Ojalá
Words
Probable: The majority view, with some reservations.Plants & animals · Specialized

alerce

larchárbol conífero de madera resistente

Comes from Arabic

الأَرْزَة

al-arza

“the cedar”«el cedro»

Arabic today says

لَارِكْس

lāriks

The article

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

The story

In Arabic arz is the cedar, the cedar of Lebanon; in Spanish the name passed to another tree, the larch. That change of tree is the caveat, and some think of a crossing with Latin larix, which is precisely the name of the larch.En árabe arz es el cedro, el del Líbano; en castellano el nombre pasó a otro árbol, el alerce. Ese cambio de árbol es la reserva, y algunos piensan en un cruce con el latín larix, que es precisamente el nombre del alerce.

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