atalaya

See also: atalayá and Atalaya

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• atalaia, atallaya

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الطَّلائِعَ (aṭ-ṭalāʔiʕa, “vanguard”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaja/
• Rhymes: -aja

Noun

atalaya f (plural atalayas)

1. sentinel, sentry

   Synonym: atalayador

2. watchtower
3. (transferred sense) tower

   Synonym: torre

Derived terms

• Atalaya
• atalayador
• atalayamento

Descendants

• Galician: atalaia
• Portuguese: atalaia

References

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “atalaia”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2020–2026), “atalaya”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do português medieval [Historical and chronological vocabulary of Medieval Portuguese] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “atala@a”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Spanish

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaʝa/ [a.t̪aˈla.ʝa]

• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaʝa/ [a.t̪aˈla.ʝa] (everywhere but Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay, northern Mexico, Yucatán and Central America (except Panama))
• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaʃa/ [a.t̪aˈla.ʃa] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaʒa/ [a.t̪aˈla.ʒa] (elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /ataˈlaja/ [a.t̪aˈla.ja] (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

• Audio (Peru):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʝa
• Syllabification: a‧ta‧la‧ya

Etymology 1

From Arabic الطَّلَائِع (aṭ-ṭalāʔiʕ), plural of طَلِيعَة (ṭalīʕa, “vanguard”).

Noun

atalaya f (plural atalayas)

1. watchtower

   Synonym: vigía

2. height

Derived terms

• atalayar

Etymology 2

Verb

atalaya

1. inflection of atalayar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “atalaya”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025