Guadalajara is derived from the Arabic Wad-al-hidjara, meaning "River
Running Between Rocks". Most of the towns in southern Spain have
Arabic names. Many places in former Spanish colonies were then named
after these towns and thus have Arabic names as well.

Spanish has a great deal of Arabic vocubulary:
- zapato - shoe
- aceituna - olive
- naranja - orange
- matar - to kill (as in check mate or jaque mate which means kill the sheik)

2006/9/10, Corrine Ardoin :
> Hi, Everyone:
>
> I was again catching up with old archival messages. Almost there. Anyways,
> I came across a discussion on the pronunciation of Guadalajara. I, too,
> found out it was named after Guadalajara, Spain, an Arabic name. The part
> of the name, "al," means "the" in Arabic. Like in "Alhambra," in the Los
> Angeles area.
>
> Corrine Ardoin
>