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

atalaya

watchtower on high groundtorre de vigilancia en un lugar alto

Comes from Arabic

الطَّلَائِع

aṭ-ṭalāʾiʿ

“the advance parties, the lookouts”«las avanzadillas, los centinelas»

Arabic today says

بُرْج مُرَاقَبَة

burj murāqaba

Root

ط ل ع

ṭ-l-ʿ

The article

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

The story

From the lookouts who "looked out" (ṭalaʿa) to keep watch, the word passed to the tower they kept watch from.De los centinelas que «asomaban» (ṭalaʿa) para vigilar se pasó a la torre desde la que vigilaban.

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