ARABISMS IMPACT ON THE SPANISH VOCABULARY FORMATION

The Spanish language has undergone many stages on the way to its lexical formation. It evolved from Vulgar Latin - the language influencing it the most. The second language affecting Spanish is Arabic. The penetration of Arabic culture into Spanish is directly related to the Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the second decade of the 8th century. From 711 to 714 Arabs conquered most of present-day Spain. The indigenous population of Spain adopted the language of the conquerors. As a result, the Arabic language, together with its related dialects, spread widely throughout the Spanish territory. The influence of Arabic on the Spanish language is predominantly lexical.Modern Spanish incorporates about four thousand words proceeding from Arabic. According to the latest estimates, there are about one thousand Arabic roots, and approximately three thousand derived words. It is worth mentioning that the words were borrowed in two ways. They either completely replaced the equivalent existing in the Spanish language or entered it as a word or expression that was absent earlier, i.e. neologism.The relevance of this study lies in investigating the etymology and meaning of these words, thus improving better perception and comprehension of the Spanish language.