Migration and belonging

El arraigo is roots. La raíz is the root, arraigar is to take root, and el arraigo is the state of having done so: a life here, a job, a family, years. Spanish law took the ordinary word and made it a route to residence — la residencia por arraigo, granted because somebody is already part of a place. English has no noun for it and has to explain, « leave to remain on the basis of established ties », which is a form rather than a word. The opposite exists too: el desarraigo is the state of having been pulled up.