History of the Spanish language

By Marta Díaz on Thursday, July 18, 2024

The Spanish language, also known as español or castellano, is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with 493 million native speakers and spoken by nearly 600 million people worldwide. Currently, Spanish is the official language in 21 countries and one of the official languages of the European Union.

Therefore, Spanish has a rich history that dates back thousands of years and has evolved over the centuries. All these changes have resulted in a dynamic and diverse language today. In this Enforex article, you will learn briefly about the history of the Spanish language, its origins and current situation.

Origins of Spanish language

Spanish is a Romance language, that is, it has its origin in Rome, but it also has influences from the pre-Roman languages that coexisted in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans.

Therefore, it is more correct to say that the origin of Spanish is in Vulgar Latin, a variant of Latin spoken by the popular classes of the Roman Empire. Vulgar Latin differed from Classical Latin in several respects, the latter being more flexible and less formal. As the Roman Empire expanded, Vulgar Latin adapted to local languages and cultures, giving rise to a variety of dialects that would evolve into Romance languages. Thus, the pre-Roman languages gradually disappeared in place of Vulgar Latin in the peninsula, except for Basque.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, Vulgar Latin began to fragment into different dialects in the different regions of the Iberian Peninsula. With the arrival of the Germanic invaders and the barbarian peoples, who also adopted Latin as their language, the different Romance languages emerged in many territories, including Castilian.

How Castilian arose?

Spanish originated from the Latin spoken in Roman Hispania and evolved into Castilian, which emerged in the Middle Ages in the Kingdom of Castile. Thus, Castilian appeared as a distinct language in the Kingdom of Castile during the High Middle Ages.

One of the earliest known texts in Castilian is the "Cantar de Mio Cid", an epic that narrates the exploits of the medieval hero Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as the Cid Campeador. This poem, written in the late 12th or early 13th century, is a testimony to the evolution of Castilian into a literary language.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Castilian began to consolidate as a written language. But it was not until 1492 when Antonio de Nebrija published the "Gramática de la lengua castellana", the first grammatical study of Spanish. This work marked a before and after in the history of the Spanish language, establishing grammatical rules that would help to unify and standardize the use of Castilian. In this way, Nebrija wanted to define and preserve the structure of the language for the future.

In addition, the presence of Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula also played an important role in the creation of the current language and in many of the Spanish words that are still in use today. Mozarabic, the language spoken in Al-Andalus, was born from a mixture of Arabic and Vulgar Latin.

Also, Spanish is also known as Castilian because it was born in the kingdom of Castile, although it is a language with many language influences over time.

The Golden Age of the Spanish language

The Spanish Golden Age, spanning the 16th and 17th centuries, was a period of cultural and literary splendor for Spain. During this period, the Spanish language reached a high level of development and refinement. Authors such as Miguel de Cervantes, with his masterpiece "Don Quixote de la Mancha", and poets such as Garcilaso de la Vega and Lope de Vega, contributed to the richness and complexity of the language.

On the other hand, with the colonization of America, Spanish spread rapidly throughout the territories. As Spanish conquistadors and colonists settled in the Americas, they brought their language with them, which mixed with indigenous and African languages, giving rise to several regional varieties of Spanish.

Today, most native Spanish speakers are found in Latin America. Each country and region have developed its own variant of the language, with differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. However, despite these variations, Spanish remains a unified language in grammar and basic structure.

Spanish language nowadays

In the 21st century, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world in terms of number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese, and the third in total number of speakers, after English and Chinese. In addition, Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and the European Union.

The growth of Spanish as a language is due in part to the increasing population in Spanish-speaking countries, and the growing interest in learning Spanish in other parts of the world, such as the United States and Europe.

Spanish as a language continues to be of great importance globally and the number of Spanish speakers is expected to continue to grow in the coming decades. Ease of access to educational resources and constant cultural exchange have also contributed to making Spanish one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

In summary, the history of the Spanish language is a rich and complex one, from its origins in Vulgar Latin, Mozarabic or Romance languages. Spanish has proven to be a vibrant and resilient language, so it is no wonder that more and more people are venturing to learn Spanish in Spain. And, like most languages, Spanish is constantly evolving and growing. Are you ready to learn one of the most widely spoken languages in the world?