Arabic origin of Portuguse word 'alcaide'

Can someone help me make sense of something I read... is it true that the Portuguese word for mayor, 'alcaide', is derived from the Arabic al'qaeda, whose original meaning was 'foundation, base, organization'?

No, it's from Arabic al-qadi, the judge, which is not from the same root as al-qa'ida.

Kadi is also a colloquial term for judge in German (at least in Austria).

#2 -- That may come through Turkish. The Turks borrowed the Arabic word.

#3 -- Yes, I think so too.

This is what I found

alcayde, commander or governor of a Moorish or Spanish or Portuguese fortress; warden or keeper of a Moorish or Spanish or Portuguese prison. VinnyD, my research supports your etimology. It's Arabic and from what I read it dates back to 1502.

Thank you everyone.

Virtually every word starting with AL in both Spanish and Portuguese has got an arabic origin

Alcazar, aleli, alcoba, etc

#7 -- You go too far. alpaca, aliteración, alegoría, alocución, alergia, alerta, alma, alimento, aluminio, aluviál, altura, altruismo, alto, altitud, alga, alguno, alongado. Greek, Latin, German, Italian, French, Quechua. And there must be hundred others.

What does aleli mean?

Alel¨ª or alhel¨ª is a type of flower (from classic arabic ẖ¨©r¨© )

It´s alei with an accent in the i AND alhei with another accent.

sorry, aleli and alheli with an accent.

Thanks, naturebright. Could you give me a link to wherever you got the arabic at #9 -- so that I can see it?

It seems to be this if anyone else is interested.

Also, a number of words beginning with "a" and another consonant, copying the pronunication of the direct object and the word in spoken Arabic, for example, aceite and arroz.

Alhelí ... though Google turns up lots of photos of various other flowers.

And an old song from the '50s (or maybe earlier):

Capullito de alhelí
Letra y música de Rafael Hernández

Lindo capullo de alhelí
Si tu supieras mi dolor
Correspondieras a mi amor
Y calmaras mi sufrir

Porque tu sabes que sin tí
La vida es nada para mí
Tu bien lo sabes
Capullito de alhelí

No hay
en el mundo para mí
Otro capullo de alhelí
Que yo le brinde mi pasión
Y que le de mi corazón

Tu solo eres la mujer
A quien le dado mi querer
Y te brinde lindo alhelí
Fidelidad hasta morir

Por eso yo te canto a tí
Mi capullito de alhelí
Dame tu aroma seductor
Y un poquito de tu amor

Porque tu sabes que sin tí
La vida es nada para mí
Tu bien lo sabes
Capullito de alhelí

alelhi

aleli

"Alcaide" may have been used in Portuguese in the past (I think so, but I'm not sure). But nowadays, a "mayor", or its equivalent, is called "Presidente da Câmara".

"Câmara", or "Câmara Municipal" means something like "Municipal Chamber", or "Ayuntamiento" in Spanish.

I've heard both "presidente municipal" and "alcalde" in Spanish. I think it's really a matter of local usage and the titles established by law in different countries.

Guadalquivir = (presumably) Wad al-Kabir?

#18 -- If you mean Wadi, then yes.

Vinny - yes, wadi - but pronounced 'wad' in North Africa. (In fact, pronounced 'wad l-kbir').

qadi made it's way via Turkish into Serbo-Croatian as kadija, nowadays described roughly as "judge in Turkish times" and most often used in the phrase "Kadija tuži, kadija sudi" (Kadi accuses, kadi judges), describing a fair trial...

#20 -- Wadi'l-kabir is pronounced like that because the vowel of the article is always swallowed up by a preceding vowel (not just in North Africa). Are you saying that wadi is pronounced wad in North Africa even if it ends a phrase? I never noticed that but I can't say for sure I remember how wadi (in final position) was pronounced in Libya.

You guys are right about the surname Alcaide coming from Arabic. But it was origionally prounounced al-qaid. Commander or leader, Since the Spanish and Portuguese werent really able to prounounce it correctly. The words in the surname eventually became fused. And the prounounciation eventually became altered. So al-qaid, eventually became Alcaide.

halaunalcaide is right, according to the sources I've looked at. I wonder if I was relying on my memory above. Stupid of me, and I apologize.

There are three separate Arabic roots in the words mentioned here:

q3d (3 = ayin, pharyngeal consonant with no English equivalent), form which al-Qaeda, the base, is derived.

qDy (with an emphatic D, a different consonant from the d's in the two other roots), from which Qadi, judge, is derived.

qyd, from which qaid, leader is derived.

Thanks, halaunalcaide.