The origin of Spanish
Do you know the origin and importance of Spanish?
Castilian comes from Latin, as do other languages or dialects such as Portuguese, Catalan, Galician, French and Italian. As most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the Romans, this territory was part of their Empire and their culture and language were implanted throughout the area.
When the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century, the influence of the cultured Latin spoken by the native Romans gradually diminished and in Spain we began to speak a vulgar Latin. With a different phonetics, syntax and lexicon.
It was in this context that the deformations of Latin arose and the first version of the typical "Castilian" was born, which gave rise to the Kingdom of Castile and spread throughout the peninsula during the Middle Ages.
A territory where several cultures coexisted
By combining the language spoken by the different cultures that inhabited the Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans with Latin, the vulgar Castilian we speak of also had words from Greek, Celtic and Germanic.
When the invasion of the Peninsula by the Muslims took place in the 8th century, two very different areas emerged. In one of them, Al Andalus, the Romance dialects began to be spoken at the same time as the neo-Arabic Mozarabic with other invading Arabic and Berber languages. Meanwhile, in the area not invaded by the Muslims, formed by the Christian Kingdoms, the Catalan, Aragonese, Asturian and Galician-Portuguese Romance languages began to be spoken, in addition to Castilian, which was the dominant one in the Peninsula.
The consolidation of Spanish as a common language
Over the years, a common language was consolidated, although dialectical varieties never ceased to exist. It was in the year 1200, with King Alfonso X, when the city of Toledo was consecrated as the base city for the activities of the monarchy and Castilian was adopted as the general language for writing all official documents and decrees.
Another historical moment of important expansion of Castilian throughout the Peninsula was after the Reconquest of the entire territory in 1492 by the Catholic Kings, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. This fact made Castilian gain much acceptance among the entire population. They made Castilian the official language of the Kingdom.
The history of Spanish in Spain is very turbulent, as much as our culture. We come from the mixture of many other cultures. That is why the language that resulted from that cultured Latin was a hybrid language.
Today, the importance of Spanish is considerable. It is the second most spoken language in the world and the mother tongue of more than 400 million people. It is also the official language of 21 countries and there are Spanish speakers in every continent on Earth.
Still thinking about learning Spanish?
A universal and multicultural language, which is the second language of international communication, will open many doors for you. And if you come to learn it in the city of Valencia, you will enjoy a unique experience.
If you have not yet decided to learn Spanish, take a look at this blog in which we explain the Reasons to study Spanish.
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