'aljamiado' originates from Spanish, specifically the word 'aljamía,' where 'al-' is an Arabic definite article and 'jamía' meant 'assembly' or 'congregation.'

'aljamía' transformed into the Spanish word 'aljamiado,' and eventually became the modern English word 'aljamiado.'

Initially, it referred to the use of Arabic script for non-Arabic languages, but over time it evolved into its current meaning of Romance texts in Arabic script.