Toponyms (place Names) in Iberia of Arabic Origin
There are hundreds if not thousands of place names derived from Arabic in the Iberian peninsula including provinces and regions, cities, towns, villages and even neighborhoods and streets. They also include geographical features such as mountains, mountain ranges, valleys and rivers. Toponyms derived from Arabic are common in all of Spain (including much of the North of the country) except for those regions which never came under Muslim rule or where it was particularly short-lived. These regions include Galicia and the Northern coast (Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque country) as well as northern Catalonia and Aragon. Regions where place names of Arabic origin are particularly common are the Eastern Coast (Valencia and Murcia) and the region of Andalusia. In Portugal, the frequency of Arabic toponyms increases as one travels south in the country.
Those toponyms which maintained their pre-Islamic name during the Muslim period were generally Arabized, and the mark of either the old Arabic pronunciation or the popular pronunciation from which it derived is noticeable in their modern names: e.g. Hispalis - Ishbiliya - Sevilla.
Read more about this topic: Arabic Language Influence On The Spanish Language
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