Probably from Arabic 'the diver' via Portuguese, respelled to look Latin ('albus,' white) by English sailors.
A very large seabird; a source of frustration or guilt that hinders progress.
Probably from Spanish or Portuguese 'alcatraz' (pelican, frigate bird), itself from Arabic 'al-ḡaṭṭās' (الغطاس, the diver), from the verb 'ḡaṭasa' (to plunge, to dive). The spelling was altered in English under the influence of Latin 'albus' (white), from PIE *h₂elbʰós (white), which also produced Greek 'alphós' (white leprosy) and Old English 'elfet' (swan — the white bird). This folk-etymological reshaping — replacing the Arabic-derived 'alcatraz' with the Latinate 'albatross' — is a textbook case of how speakers reshape unfamiliar foreign