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

añil

indigo — a dark blue dye; the color of that dyetinte azul oscuro; el color de ese tinte

Comes from Arabic

النِّيل

an-nīl

“indigo, the plant and its dye”«el índigo, la planta y su tinte»

Arabic today says

نِيلَة

nīla

The article

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

Arabic itself had taken it from Persian, which took it from Sanskrit.

The story

From Sanskrit nīlī, "dark blue", via Persian nīl. The assimilated article an-n- gave the ñ. Nothing to do with the river Nile, though in Arabic they are spelled the same.Del sánscrito nīlī, «azul oscuro», por el persa nīl. El artículo asimilado an-n- dio la ñ. Nada que ver con el río Nilo, aunque en árabe se escriban igual.

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