Origin and history of Alhambra

I looked in at the Alhambra the other night, and found an excellent show, notably, a high-wire act by Mdlle....

hall favored by 'loose women and the simpletons who run after them' " [The Observer, Jan. 18, 1863, in reference to the Alhambra...

Moorish kingdom, after 1492 a Spanish province, named for its city, which was founded in 8c. by the Arabs on the site of Roman Illiberis. The name is said to be from Latin granatum "pomegranate," either from fruit grown in the region or from some fancied resemblance. Others conne

"sudden mass terror," especially an exaggerated fright affecting a number of persons without visible cause or inspired by trifling cause or danger, 1708, from an earlier adjective (c. 1600, modifying fear, terror, etc.), from French panique (15c.), from Greek panikon, literally "

"oral instruction, catechism," 1753, from Latinized form of Greek katēkhesis "instruction by word of mouth," from katēkhein "to instruct orally," originally "to resound" (with sense evolution via "to sound (something) in someone's ear" to "to teach by word of mouth"). This is fro

Old English hlot "object used to determine someone's share" (anything from dice to straw, but often a chip of wood with a name inscribed on it), also "what falls to a person by lot," from Proto-Germanic *khlutom (source also of Old Norse hlutr "lot, share," Old Frisian hlot "lot,

1867, "calf or yearling found without an owner's brand," a word from the great cattle ranches of the American West, so called for Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870), Texas cattle owner who was notoriously negligent in branding his calves. All neat stock found running at large in thi

mid-15c., "pertaining to numbers below ten;" 1650s, "pertaining to fingers," from Latin digitalis, from digitus "finger or toe" (see digit). The numerical sense is because numerals under 10 were counted on fingers. Meaning "using numerical digits" is from 1938, especially of comp

"with the hands on the hips and the elbows bent outward at sharp angles," c. 1400, in kenebowe, of unknown origin, perhaps from Middle English phrase in keen bow "at a sharp angle" (with keen in its Middle English sense of "sharp" + bow "arch"), or from a Scandinavian word akin t

late 12c., "God's forgiveness of his creatures' offenses," from Old French mercit, merci (9c.) "reward, gift; kindness, grace, pity," from Latin mercedem (nominative merces) "reward, wages, pay, hire" (in Vulgar Latin "favor, pity;" in Medieval Latin "thanks; grace"), from merx (