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

matraca

wooden rattle; dar la matraca: to nag, go on and on about somethingcarraca de madera que hace ruido; «dar la matraca»: insistir hasta cansar

Comes from Arabic

مِطْرَقَة

miṭraqa

“hammer”«martillo»

In Andalusi Arabic: مَطْرَقَة maṭraqa

Arabic today says

إِلْحَاح

ilḥāḥ

Root

ط ر ق

ṭ-r-q

The article

It came in without the article.

The story

The miṭraqa is the hammer, and in Arabic it still is; Spanish kept the repeated clatter of the rattle and, from there, the hammering insistence.La miṭraqa es el martillo, y en árabe lo sigue siendo; en español quedó el golpeteo repetido de la carraca y, de ahí, la insistencia que martillea.

In a sentence

Deja ya de darme la matraca con el viaje.

Stop going on and on at me about the trip.

كُفَّ عَنِ الإِلْحَاحِ عَلَيَّ بِشَأْنِ الرِّحْلَة.

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