Re: [tied] Arabic borrowing in Spanish and Portuguese

I heard that it is because the people who brought the Arabian language to
the Iberian Peninsula were berbers, who didn't speak Arabian as their
mother language, so they spoke an already modified Arabian, in which the
arabian articles were interpreted as as part of the word. But I didn't
believe very much in this explanation! I am also interested in this matter,
so I'd like to know if someone can tell me more about this.
Bye,
Bruno

>Can anyone explain why so many Arabic words, which were adopted by
>Spanish and Potuguese, such as alcazar, alcalde, almohada etc retain
>the Arabic definite article 'al'. I know this is not universal and
>there are many exceptions such as 'zanahoria' but a great many (the
>majority?) do retain the definite article. This means that when
>someone says 'el alcazar' he is really saying 'the the fortress'. Any
>thoughts?
>Sorry about the absence of stress accents.
>Regards
>
>David James