Etymology

arroba

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Today it means: A traditional Spanish unit of mass, varying by time, location, and substance but generally around 11.5 kilograms. Full definition →

Portuguese arroba ← Old Spanish arroua ← Old Galician-Portuguese arrova
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The story

  1. Arabic · derived fromاَلرُّبْع“one-fourth”
  2. Old Galician-Portuguese · derived fromarrova
  3. Old Spanish · derived fromarroua
  4. Portuguese · borrowed fromarroba
  5. English todayarroba

From Spanish and Portuguese arroba, from Old Spanish arroua and Old Galician-Portuguese arrova, from Andalusian Arabic and Arabic اَلرُّبْع (ar-rubʕ, “one-fourth”) in reference to its making up one fourth of a quintal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.