By: Lara Gibson | Date: June 13, 2025 | Newarab.com On a drive from Valencia to Alicante, I noticed a striking pattern — many place names sounded Arabic. I drove past towns called ‘Alfafar’, ‘Algemensi’, ‘Alcàsser’, and ‘Alzira’. That’s no coincidence: Alicante, for example, stems from al-Laqant, a name dating back to the Al-Andalus period when Arabic was the lingua…
Read MoreEchoes of Al-Andalus: Understanding the rebirth of Arabic language and culture in present-day Spain
