History of the Spanish language
The language known today as
The Spanish language expanded overseas in the
Main distinguishing features
The development of Spanish phonology is distinguished from those of other nearby Romance languages (e.g. Portuguese, Catalan) by several features:
- closed syllablesas well as open (tiempo, puerta vs. Portuguese tempo, porta)
- sibilants, producing (1) the velar fricative [x] in words such as caja, hijo, gente, and (2)—in many dialects of Spain, including the prestige varieties of Madrid, Toledo, etc.—the interdental[θ] in words such as cinco, hacer, and lazo
- debuccalization and eventual loss of Latin initial /f/ in most contexts, marked in modern spelling by the silent ⟨h⟩ of words such as hablar, hilo, hoja (from Latin fabulare, filum, and folia respectively. Also in Gascon: hilh, huelha)
- early fricativization of palatal /ʎ/ (from Vulgar Latin -LJ-, -CL-, -GL-), first into palatal /ʒ/ and ultimately into velar /x/, e.g., filius →hijo, *oc'lu → ojo, *coag'lare → cuajar; cf. Portuguese filho, olho, coalhar)
- development of initial PL-, CL-, FL- into palatal /ʎ/ in many words, e.g., plorare → llorar, clamare → llamar, flamma → llama; cf. Portuguese chorar, chamar, chama, Catalan plorar, clamar, flama)
- Vulgar Latin initial /j/ (from J-, DJ-, G(E)-, G(I)-) remains before /a/, /e/ and /i/, subsequently disappearing in an unstressed syllable (iaceō→yace, gypsum→yeso, ienuārius→enero, *iectāre→echar, gelāre→helar, *genuclum→hinojo vs. Portuguese jaz, gesso, janeiro, jeitar, gelar, joelho)
The following features are characteristic of Spanish phonology and also of some other
- palatalization of Latin -NN- and -LL- into /ɲ/ and /ʎ/ (año, caballo) (also in Catalan: any, cavall).
- the phonemic merger of /b/ and /v/, making, for example, the noun tubo and the verb tuvo phonetically equivalent (in all contexts except those of hypercorrection or spelling pronunciation)[8](also in Galician, Northern European Portuguese and some Catalan and Occitan varieties)
- spirantization of /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ → [β̞], [ð̞] and [ɣ̞]—not only from original Latin B, D, and G (as in Sp. probar, sudar, legumbre), but also from Latin *V, P, T, and C (as in Sp. tuvo, sabe, vida, lago) (also in Galician, European Portuguese, Catalan and parts of Occitan)
The Latin system of four verb conjugations (form classes) is reduced to three in Spanish. The Latin infinitives with the endings -ĀRE, -ĒRE, and -ĪRE become Spanish infinitives in -ar, -er, and -ir respectively. The Latin third conjugation—infinitives ending in -ĔRE—are redistributed between the Spanish -er and -ir classes (e.g. facere → hacer, dicere → decir). Spanish verbal morphology continues the use of some Latin synthetic forms that were replaced by analytic ones in spoken French and (partly) Italian (cf. Sp. lavó, Fr. il a lavé), and the Spanish subjunctive mood maintains separate present and past-tense forms.
Spanish syntax provides overt marking for some direct objects (the so-called "personal a", see differential object marking for the general phenomenon), and uses clitic doubling with indirect objects, in which a "redundant" pronoun (le, les) appears even in the presence of an explicit noun phrase. (Neither feature occurs in other Western Romance languages,[citation needed] but both are features of Romanian, with pe < PER corresponding to Spanish a.) With regard to subject pronouns, Spanish is a pro-drop language, meaning that the verb phrase can often stand alone without the use of a subject pronoun (or a subject noun phrase). In some cases, such as with impersonal verbs referring to meteorological (llover, to rain; nevar, to snow) or other natural phenomena (amanecer, to get light out; anochecer, to get dark out), it is ungrammatical to include a subject. Compared to other Romance languages, Spanish has a somewhat freer syntax with relatively fewer restrictions on subject-verb-object word order.
Due to prolonged
Accents—used in Modern Spanish to mark the vowel of the stressed syllable in words where stress is not predictable from rules—came into use sporadically in the 15th century, and massively in the 16th century. Their use began to be standardized with the advent of the
External history
The standard Spanish language is also called
Origins
Castilian Spanish originated (after the decline of the
The prestige of Castile and its language was propagated partly by the exploits of Castilian heroes in the battles of the Reconquista—among them Fernán González and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid)—and by the narrative poems about them that were recited in Castilian even outside the original territory of that dialect.[11]
The "first written Spanish" was traditionally considered to have appeared in the
The first steps toward standardization of written Castilian were taken in the 13th century by King Alfonso X of Castile, known as Alfonso el Sabio (Alfonso the Wise), in his court in Toledo. He assembled scribes at his court and supervised their writing, in Castilian, of extensive works on history, astronomy, law, and other fields of knowledge.[13][14]
Antonio de Nebrija wrote the first grammar of Spanish, Gramática de la lengua castellana, and presented it, in 1492, to Queen Isabella, who is said to have had an early appreciation of the usefulness of the language as a tool of hegemony, as if anticipating the empire that was about to be founded with the voyages of Columbus.[15]
Because Old Spanish resembles the modern written language to a relatively high degree, a reader of Modern Spanish can learn to read medieval documents without much difficulty.
The
America
Beginning in the late fifteenth century, the discovery and colonization of the Americas by Spanish colonizers brought the language across the Atlantic and to Mexico, Central America, and western and southern South America.[17] Under the Spanish Crown, the language was used as a tool for colonization by Spanish soldiers, missionaries, conquistadors, and entrepreneurs. In the coming centuries, their descendants continued to spread the language.[18]
Use of the language in the
In the late 19th century, the still-Spanish colonies of
When
A similar situation occurred in the American Southwest, including
Africa
The presence of Spanish in Equatorial Guinea dates from the late 18th century, and it was adopted as the official language when independence was granted in 1968.
Spanish is widely spoken in Western Sahara, which was a protectorate/colony of Spain from the 1880s to the 1970s.
Judaeo-Spanish
In 1492 Spain expelled its Jewish population. Their Judaeo-Spanish language, called Ladino, developed along its own lines and continues to be spoken by a dwindling number of speakers, mainly in Israel, Turkey, and Greece.[20][21]
In the Pacific
In the Marianas, the Spanish language was retained until the Pacific War, but is no longer spoken there by any significant number of people. As part of Chile since 1888, Spanish is spoken by most people in Easter Island along with Rapa Nui language.
Spain
International projection
When the
The list of Nobel laureates in Literature includes eleven authors who wrote in Spanish (José Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Gabriela Mistral, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Aleixandre, Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, Octavio Paz, and Mario Vargas Llosa).
Influences
The mention of "influences" on the Spanish language refers primarily to
The most frequently used word that entered Spanish from (or through Suffixes such as -iego: mujeriego "womanizer" and -ego: gallego "Galician" are also attributed to Celtic sources.
Influence of Basque phonology is credited by some researchers[who?] with softening the Spanish labiodentals: turning labiodental [v] to bilabial [β], and ultimately deleting labiodental [f]. Others negate or downplay Basque phonological influence, claiming that these changes occurred in the affected dialects wholly as a result of factors internal to the language, not outside influence.[25] It is also possible that the two forces, internal and external, worked in concert and reinforced each other.
Some words of Greek origin were already present in the spoken Latin that became Spanish. Additionally, many Greek words formed part of the language of the Church. Spanish also borrowed Ancient Greek vocabulary in the areas of medical, technical, and scientific language, beginning as early as the 13th century.[26]
The influence of
In 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by
The neighboring Romance languages—such as
The creation of the Spanish Empire in the New World led to lexical borrowing from indigenous languages of the Americas, especially vocabulary dealing with flora, fauna, and cultural concepts unique to the Americas.[33]
Borrowing from English has become especially strong, beginning in the 20th century, with words borrowed from many fields of activity, including sports, technology, and commerce.[34]
The incorporation into Spanish of learned, or "bookish" words from its own ancestor language,
Internal history
Spanish shares with other Romance languages most of the phonological and grammatical changes that characterized Vulgar Latin, such as the abandonment of distinctive vowel length, the loss of the case system for nouns, and the loss of deponent verbs.
Syncope
Environment | Latin words | Spanish words |
---|---|---|
_r | aperīre, humerum, litteram,[38] operam, honorāre | abrir, hombro, letra, obra, honrar |
r_ | eremum, viridem | yermo, verde |
_l | acūculam, fabulam, insulam, populum | aguja, habla, isla, pueblo |
l_ | sōlitārium | soltero |
s_t | positum, consūtūram | puesto, costura |
*Solitario, which is derived from sōlitārium, is a learned word; cf. the alternate form soltero. As also "fábula" from "fabulam", although this last one has a different meaning in Spanish.
Later, after the time of intervocalic voicing, unstressed vowels were lost between other combinations of consonants:
Environment | Latin words | Spanish words |
---|---|---|
b_t | cubitum, dēbitam, dūbitam | codo, deuda, duda |
c_m, c_p, c_t | decimum, acceptōre, recitāre | diezmo, azor, rezar |
d_c | undecim, vindicāre | once, vengar |
f_c | advērificāre | averiguar |
m_c, m_n, m_t | hāmiceolum, hominem, comitem | anzuelo, hombre, conde |
n_c, n_t | dominicum, bonitāte, cuminitiāre | domingo, bondad, comenzar |
p_t | capitālem, computāre, hospitālem | caudal, contar, hostal |
s_c, s_n | quassicāre, rassicāre, asinum, fraxinum | cascar, rascar, asno, fresno |
t_c, t_n | masticāre, portaticum, trīticum, retinam | mascar/masticar, portazgo, trigo, rienda |
Words capital, computar, hospital, recitar and vindicar are learned words; cf. capitālem, computāre, hospitālem, recitāre, and vindicāre and alternate forms caudal, contar, hostal, rezar, and vengar.
Elision
While voiceless intervocalic consonants regularly became voiced, many voiced intervocalic stops (d, g, and occasionally b) were dropped from words altogether through a process called elision.[39][40] Latin /b/ between vowels usually changed to /v/ in Old Spanish (e.g. habēre > aver), while Latin /p/ became /b/ (sapere > saber). In modern times the two phonemes merged into /b/ (haber, saber), realized as [β] between vowels (see Betacism). Latin voiced stops—/b/, /d/, and /ɡ/, which are represented orthographically as B, D, and G respectively—and also occurred in intervocalic positions also underwent lenition: [β], [ð], and [ɣ], but appeared in Spanish also through learned words from Classical Latin.
Consonant | Latin word | Spanish word |
---|---|---|
b → ∅ | vendēbat | vendía |
d → ∅ | comedere, vidēre, hodie, cadēre, pede, quō modō | comer, ver, hoy, caer, pie, cómo |
g → ∅ | cōgitāre, digitum, legere, ligāre, lēgāle | cuidar, dedo, leer, liar, leal |
Many forms with d and g preserved, e.g. ligar, legal, dígito, crudo, are learned words (Latinisms); cf. the alternate forms liar, leal, dedo and Old Spanish cruo and its Latin origin crūdus.
An exemption to the rule: The retention of the d and g is due to the invalidity of the -ao, -aa, -oo, and -oa hiatuses in Old Spanish that would result from dropping it.
Consonant | Latin word | Spanish word |
---|---|---|
d → [ð] | gradus, vadum, modus | grado, vado, modo |
g → [ɣ] | sparagus, agustus, plāga, magus | espárrago, agosto, llaga, mago |
Voicing and spirantization
In virtually all the
The phonological environment of these changes is not only between vowels but also after a vowel and before a
Consonants | Latin word | Spanish word |
---|---|---|
p → b [β] | aperīre, cooperīre, lupum, operam, populum, capram, superāre1 |
abrir [aˈβɾir], cubrir [kuˈβɾir], lobo [ˈloβo], obra [ˈoβɾa], pueblo [ˈpweβlo], cabra [ˈkaβɾa], sobrar [soβˈɾar] |
t → d [ð] | cīvitātem, cubitum, latum, mūtāre, scūtum, stātus, petram |
ciudad [θjuˈðað], codo [ˈkoðo], lado [ˈlaðo], mudar [muˈðar], escudo [esˈkuðo], estado [esˈtaðo], piedra [ˈpjeðra] |
c → g [ɣ] | focum, lacum, locum, pacāre, sacrātum, aqua, lucrum2 |
fuego [ˈfweɣo], lago [ˈlaɣo], luego [ˈlweɣo], pagar [paˈɣar], sagrado [saˈɣɾaðo], agua [ˈaɣwa], logro [ˈloɣɾo] |
1Latin superāre produced both sobrar and its learned doublet superar.
2Latin lucrum produced both logro and its learned doublet lucro.
The verb decir, in its various conjugated forms, exemplifies different phonetic changes, depending on whether the letter <c> (Latin /k/) was followed by a front vowel or not. The Latin /k/ changes ultimately to Spanish /θ/ when followed by the front vowels (/i/ or /e/—thus dice, decimos, etc.), but in other forms, before a back vowel, /k/ is voiced to /ɡ/ and, in the modern language, realized as a spirant [ɣ] (as in digo, diga). This also is the pattern of a few other Spanish verbs ending in -cer or -cir, as in the table below:
Forms with /k/ → /θ/,/s/ (before front vowels) | Forms with /k/ → /ɡ/ (before back vowels) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
English | Latin | Spanish | English | Latin | Spanish |
To say, to tell It says, it tells |
dīcere /ˈdiːkere/ dīcit /ˈdiːkit/ |
decir /deˈθiɾ/,/deˈsiɾ/ dice /ˈdiθe/,/ˈdise/ |
I say, I tell May it tell |
dīcō /ˈdiːkoː/ dīcat /ˈdiːkat/ |
digo /ˈdiɡo/ diga /ˈdiɡa/ |
To do, to make It does, it makes |
facere /ˈfakere/ facit /ˈfakit/ |
hacer /aˈθeɾ/,/aˈseɾ/ hace /ˈaθe/,/ˈase/ |
I do, I make May it make |
faciō > *facō /ˈfakoː/ faciat > *facat /ˈfakat/ |
hago /ˈaɡo/ haga /ˈaɡa/ |
Diphthongization in open and closed syllables
It is commonly thought that the reflexes of stressed short E and O of Latin were realised, after the loss of phonemic quantity, as the low-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ respectively in the Western Romance languages, contrasting with close-mid /e/ and /o/, which would have originated from the mergers between long E and short I and between long O and short U, respectively; this change would explain the similarity of the vowel systems in modern Romance languages such as Portuguese, Catalan and Italian. These low-mid vowels subsequently would have undergone
Syllable shape | Latin | Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Catalan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Open | petram, focus | piedra, fuego | pierre, feu | pietra, fuoco | pedra, fogo | pedra, foc |
Closed | festa, porta | fiesta, puerta | fête, porte | festa, porta | festa, porta | festa, porta |
Learned words and consonant cluster simplification
Learned words—that is, "bookish" words transmitted partly through writing and thus affected by their Latin form—became increasingly frequent with the works of
Consonant cluster | Latin form | Learned form | Old Spanish form
|
Modern Spanish form |
---|---|---|---|---|
ct → t | effectum, perfectum, respectum, aspectum, dīstrīctus, sectam | efecto, perfecto, respecto, aspecto, districto, secta | efeto, perfeto, respeto, aspeto, distrito, seta | efecto, perfecto, respeto/respecto, aspecto, distrito, secta |
ct[i] → cc[i] → c[i] | affectiōnem, lectiōnem, perfectiōnem | affección, lección, perfección | afición, lición, perfeción | afición/afección, lección, perfección |
pt → t | acceptāre, baptismum, conceptum, raptus |
aceptar, baptismo, concepto, rapto |
acetar, bautismo, conceto, rato |
aceptar, bautismo, concepto, rato |
gn → n | dīgnum, magnīficum, signīficāre | digno, magnífico, significar |
dino, manífigo, sinifigar |
digno, magnífico, significar |
mn → n | columnam, solemnitātem, alūmnus | columna, solemnidad, alumno | coluna, solenidad, aluno | columna, solemnidad, alumno |
mpt → nt | promptum, exemptum | prompto, exempto | pronto, exento | pronto, exento |
nct → nt | sanctus, distīnctum | sancto, distincto | santo, distinto | santo, distinto |
Most of these words have modern forms which more closely resemble
Most words with consonant clusters in syllable-final position are loanwords from Classical Latin, examples are: transporte [tɾansˈpor.te], transmitir [tɾanz.miˈtir], instalar [ins.taˈlar], constante [konsˈtante], obstante [oβsˈtante], obstruir [oβsˈtɾwir], perspectiva [pers.pekˈti.βa], istmo [ˈist.mo]. A syllable-final position cannot be more than one consonant (one of n, r, l, s or z) in most (or all) dialects in colloquial speech, reflecting Vulgar Latin background. Realizations like [trasˈpor.te], [tɾaz.miˈtir], [is.taˈlar], [kosˈtante], [osˈtante], [osˈtɾwir], and [ˈiz.mo] are very common, and in many cases, they are considered acceptable even in formal speech.
Another type of consonant cluster simplification involves
], respectively.Consonant | Latin word | Spanish word |
---|---|---|
bb [bː] → b [β] | ABBĀTEM | abad |
dd [dː] → d [ð] | IN + ADDERE, ADDICTUS, ADDICTIŌNEM | añadir, adicto, adicción |
gg [gː] → g [ɣ] | AGGRAVARE | agravar |
pp [pː] → p [p] | CUPPAM, CIPPUS, VAPPA, SUPPORTĀRE, SUPPŌNĒRE | copa, cepo, guapo, soportar, suponer |
tt [tː] → t [t] | CATTUM, GUTTAM, QUATTUOR, LITTERAM, ATTENDĒRE, ATTRAHERE, ATTRIBUERE, RATTUS | gato, gota, cuatro, letra, atender, atraer, atrever, rata |
cc [kː] → c [k] | VACCAM, PECCĀRE, SICCUS, ACCŪSĀRE, OCCURRERE, BUCCAM | vaca, pecar, seco, acusar, ocurrir, boca |
Vocalization
The term "vocalization" refers to the change from a consonant to the vowel-like sound of a glide. Some syllable-final consonants, regardless of whether they were already syllable-final in Latin or brought into that position by
Change | Latin word | Intermediate form
|
Spanish word |
---|---|---|---|
p → w | baptistam, capitālem | (none for baptistam), cabdal | bautista, caudal |
b → w | dēbitam | debda | deuda |
(u)b → w → Ø | cubitum, dubitāre | cobdo, dubdar | codo, dudar |
v → w | cīvitātem | cibdad | ciudad |
ct → ch | octō, nōctem | *oito, *noite | ocho, noche |
Betacism
Most Romance languages have maintained the distinction between a phoneme /b/ and a phoneme /v/: a
In Modern Spanish, from the 16th century onward, the choice of orthographic ⟨b⟩ or ⟨v⟩ depends mainly on the etymology of the word. The orthography attempts to mimic the Latin spelling, rather than to keep the pronunciation-based spelling of Old Spanish.[8] Thus, Old Spanish bever "to drink", bivir/vivir "to live" become beber, vivir, respectively, following the Latin spelling bibere, vīvere. The Spanish placename Córdoba, often spelled Cordova in Old Spanish (the spelling that prevailed in English until the 20th century), now reflects the spelling used by the city's Roman founders, "Corduba".
Latin f- to Spanish h- to null
F was almost always initial in Latin words, and in Spanish most phonemes /f/ followed by a simple vowel passed through a stage in which the consonant eventually developed to [h] and then was lost phonologically. Spelling conventions have
The change from /f/ to /h/ occurred in the Romance speech of Old Castile, eastern Asturian, and Gascon, but nowhere else nearby.[54] Since much of this area was historically bilingual with Basque, and Basque once had [h] but no [f], it is often suggested that the change was caused by Basque influence. However, this is contested by many linguists.
Most current instances of /f/ are either learned words (those influenced by their written Latin form, such as forma, falso, fama, feria), loanwords of Arabic and Greek origin, or words whose initial ⟨f⟩ in Old Spanish is followed by a non-vowel (⟨r⟩, ⟨l⟩, or the glide element of a diphthong), as in frente, flor, fiesta, fuerte.[55][56][57] That, along with the effect of preservation of /f/ regionally (Asturian fumu 'smoke', formiga 'ant', fégadu 'liver'), accounts for modern doublets such as Fernando (learned) and Hernando (inherited) (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), fierro (regional) and hierro (both "iron"), fastidio and hastío (both Spanish for "boredom"), and fondo and hondo (fondo means "bottom" and hondo means "deep"). Also, hacer ("to make") is the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied") (cf. malhechor and fechorías).
As mentioned above, /h/ was not lost in all varieties. As of the late 20th century, word-initial ⟨h⟩ was pronounced as an /h/ in lower-class, predominantly rural speech in a number of western regions of Spain, specifically western Andalusia and Extremadura, the Canary Islands, part of western Salamanca, part of Cantabria, a northeastern area in León, and in the Asturian language as spoken in eastern Asturias,[54] as well as in much of Latin America, where it similarly tends to be confined to lower-class and rural speech.[58] The distribution of this pronunciation throughout so much of western Spain suggests that its spread was due in large part to the role of eastern Asturians in the reconquest of these zones.[54] At least in Latin America, the Canaries, Andalusia, and Extremadura, this /h/ is merged with the phoneme /x~h/, which comes from medieval /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.[59]
Consonants | Latin word | Old Spanish form
|
Modern Spanish word |
---|---|---|---|
f- → h- | fabulāri, facere, faciendam, factum, faminem, farīnam, fēminam, fīcatum, fīlium, folia, fōrmōsum, fūmum, fungum, furcam |
fablar, fazer, fazienda, feito, fambre, farina, fembra, fígado, fijo, foja, formoso, fumo, fongo, forca |
hablar, hacer, hacienda, hecho, hambre, harina, hembra, hígado, hijo, hoja, hermoso, humo, hongo, horca |
Fabulāri is translated as "make stories", opposed to its Spanish derivative hablar which means "speak" or "to talk".
Silent Latin h-
'H' is originally pronounced in Classical Latin, but became silent in Vulgar Latin. Thus, words were spelled without any such consonant in Old Spanish; in Modern Spanish, from the 16th century onward, it attempts to mimic the Latin spelling rather than continue Old Spanish orthography.
Consonants | Latin word | Old Spanish form
|
Modern Spanish word |
---|---|---|---|
h- → ∅ → h- | habēbat, habēre, habuī, hodiē, hominem, honorāre, hospitālem, humerum | avié; aver; ove; oy; omne, omre, ombre; onrar; ostal; ombro | había, haber, hube, hoy, hombre, honrar, hostal/hospital, hombro |
Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants
During the 16th century, the three voiced
Additionally, the
The dissimilation in the northern and central dialects occurred with the
During the colonization of the Americas, most settlers came from the south of Spain; that is the cause, according to almost all scholars, for nearly all Spanish speakers in the New World still speaking a language variety derived mainly from the Western Andalusian and Canarian dialects.
Meanwhile, the alveopalatal fricative /ʃ/, the result of the merger of voiceless /ʃ/ (spelled ⟨x⟩ in Old Spanish) with voiced /ʒ/ (spelled with ⟨j⟩ in some words and in others with ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩), was moved backward in all dialects, to become (depending on geographical variety) velar [x], uvular [χ] (in parts of Spain) or glottal [h] (in Andalusia, Canary Islands, and parts of the Americas, especially the Caribbean region).[62][63]
Interchange of the liquids /l/ and /r/
One unusual feature of Spanish etymology is the way in which the
- ancla, "Latinancora
- albedrío, "will, whim, fancy", Latin arbitrium, "judgment, decision, will" (arbitrio is a learned form, i.e.: loanword from Classical Latin)
- algalia, "Ancient Greek: ἐργαλεία ergaleía, "tools"
- alimaña, "pest", almaje "livestock", Latin animalĭa, "animals"
- alma, "soul", Latin anima
- alondra, "lark", Latin alaudula
- altramuz, "lupin", Hispanic Arabic at-tarmūs
- árbol, "tree", Latin arbor
- Argelia, "Algeria (nation)"
- azufre, sulfur, Latin sulphur
- azul, "Arabic: لازورد lāzaward "lapis lazuli" (cf. medieval Latin azura, French azure)
- blandir, "to brandish", French brandir
- bolsa, "bag, purse", Latin bursa
- cárcel, "prison", Latin carcer (cf. English "incarcerate")
- calambre, "electric shock", French crampe
- Catalina, Latin Catharina (proper name; Catarina is a learned form; i.e. loanword from Classical Latin)
- chaflán, "chamfer", French chanfrein.
- cilantro, "coriander", Latin coriandrum
- cimbrar, "shake (a stick), sway, swish", Latin cymula, "sprout, shoot (of plant)"
- corcel, "steed, fast horse", French corsier
- coronel, "colonel", French colonel, from Italian colonnello
- Cristóbal, Germanic Christoffer, from Latin Christopherus (proper name)
- cuartel, "quarter", French quartier
- dintel, "lintel", Old French lintel
- escolta, "escort", Italian scorta
- espuela, "Gothic*spaúra (cf. French éperon)
- estiércol, "dung", Latin, stercus (stem stercor-)
- estrella, "star", from Latin stella (cf. Italian stella, French étoile)
- flete, "freight, cargo", French fret
- fraile, "friar", Provençal fraire, from Latin frater, "brother"
- franela, "flannel", French flanelle
- frasco, "flask", Germanic flasko
- guirnalda, "garland", older Spanish guirlanda, cf. French guirlande
- golondrina, "swallow (bird)", Latin hirundo
- lirio, "lily, iris", Latin lilium
- mármol, "marble", Latin marmor
- miércoles, "Wednesday", Latin Mercuri [dies], "Mercury's [day]"
- milagro, "miracle", Latin miraculum
- nivel, "level", Latin libellum, "little balance", from libra, "balance"
- olor, "smell, scent", Latin odor
- papel, "paper", Catalan paper, Latin papyrus
- palabra, "word", Latin parabola
- peligro, "danger", Latin periculum (cf. English "peril")
- plática, "chat, conversation", Latin practica
- quemar, "to burn", Latin cremare (cf. English "cremation")
- quilate, "Ancient Greek: κεράτιον "carob seed" (cf. Italian carato)
- recluta, "recruit", French recrute
- regaliz(a), "liquorice", Late Latin liquiritia
- roble, "oak", Latin robur, "strong"
- sable, "sabre", France sabre
- silo, "silo", Latin sirus from Greek siros, "pit for storing grain"
- surco, "groove, furrow", Latin sulcus
- taladro, "drill", Latin tarātrum < Celtic tarātron
- temblar, "tremble", Latin tremulāre
- templar, "temper, warm up", Latin temperō"
- tiniebla(s), "darkness", Latin tenebrae
Yeísmo
Documents from as early as the 15th century show occasional evidence of sporadic confusion between the phoneme /
Yeismo is a trait of the
A related trait that has also been documented sporadically for several hundred years is rehilamiento (literally "whizzing"), the pronunciation of /ʝ/ as a sibilant fricative [ʒ] or even an affricate [dʒ], which is common among non-native Spanish speakers as well. The current pronunciation varies greatly depending on the geographical dialect and sociolect (with [dʒ], especially, stigmatized except at the beginning of a word). Rioplatense Spanish (of Argentina and Uruguay) is particularly known for the pronunciation [ʒ] of both /ʝ/ and original /ʎ/. A further development, the unvoiced pronunciation [ʃ], during the second half of the twentieth century came to characterize the speech of "most younger residents of Buenos Aires" and continues to spread throughout Argentina.[70]
See also
- Cantar de Mio Cid
- Hispano-Celtic languages
- Iberian language
- Iberian Romance languages
- Influences on the Spanish language
- List of Spanish words of Indigenous American Indian origin
- List of Spanish words of Philippine origin
- List of English words of Spanish origin
- Romance languages
- Spanish dialects and varieties
- Spanish phonology
- Old Spanish language
- Paleohispanic languages
- Middle Spanish
- Vulgar Latin
- Rafael Lapesa
References
- ^ "History of Spanish language". Language Throne. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
- ^ Penny (2002:17–290)
- ^ Penny (2002:19–22)
- ^ Penny (2002:19–20)
- ^ Penny (2002:20–21)
- ^ Penny (2002:22–26)
- ^ Penny (2002:23)
- ^ a b Navarro Tomás (1982), §§90-91.
- ^ Penny (2002:11–15)
- ^ Ostler (2005:331–334)
- ^ Penny (2002:15)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:162)
- ^ Penny (2002:15–16)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:235–248)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:288–290)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:419–420)
- ^ "The Spanish Language | Rosetta Stone®". Rosetta Stone. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-19-936643-9. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ Ostler (2005:335–347)
- ^ Penny (2002:21–24)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:524–534)
- ^ Corominas (1973:340)
- ^ Erichsen (2018)
- ^ Penny (2002:256)
- ^ Penny (2002:91–92)
- ^ Penny (2002:260–262)
- ISBN 0719007887.
- ^ Hussain, Hamid. "(DOC) Impact of Arabic on Spanish | Hamid Hussain - Academia.edu".
- ^ Quintana, Lucía; Mora, Juan Pablo (2002). "Enseñanza del acervo léxico árabe de la lengua española" (PDF). ASELE. Actas XIII: 705.: "El léxico español de procedencia árabe es muy abundante: se ha señalado que constituye, aproximadamente, un 8% del vocabulario total"
- ^ Penny (2002:271)
- ^ Penny (2002:272–275, 279–281)
- ^ Penny (2002:281–284)
- ^ Penny (2002:275–277)
- ^ Penny (2002:277–279)
- ^ Lathrop (2003:10)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:113)
- ^ Penny (2002:50–51)
- ^ Most Spanish nouns and adjectives are thought to have evolved from the accusative-case forms of their Latin source words; thus words that appear in dictionaries in their nominative forms (humerus, littera, etc.) are shown here with the accusative final -m (humerum, litteram, etc.)
- ^ Lathrop (2003:85–87)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:232–237)
- ^ Lathrop (2003:82–85)
- ^ Penny (2002:67–71)
- ^ Walsh (1991)
- ^ Cravens (2002:17–27)
- ^ Lathrop (2003:61–63)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:122)
- ^ Penny (2002:44)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:390)
- ^ Lathrop (2003:85 and 94)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:253 and 347)
- ^ Penny (2002:61 and 78)
- ^ The confusion of Latin /b/ and /v/ in Spain is demonstrated by an often-cited pun in Latin, "Beati Hispani quibus vivere bibere est" [Blessed (are the) Spaniards, for whom to live is to drink], with variants such as "Beati Hispani, dum bibere dicunt vivere". The saying seems to be not really from Roman times but from the Middle Ages or even the Renaissance. See Nihil Novum sub Sole.
- ^ Lloyd (1987:239)
- ^ ISSN 0212-0534. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
- ^ Lathrop (2003:78–79)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:212–223)
- ^ Penny (2002:90)
- ^ Penny (2000), pp. 162–163.
- ^ Penny (2000), pp. 121–122, 130, 162–163.
- ^ Lapesa (1981:163)
- ^ Penny (2002:86)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:328–344)
- ^ Penny (2002:86–90)
- ^ Hammond (2001)
- ^ Lloyd (1987:344–347)
- ^ Penny (2002:93)
- ^ Boyd-Bowman (1964)
- ^ Penny (2002:25–26)
- ^ Lapesa (1981:565–566)
- ^ Lipski (1994:170)
Sources
- Boyd-Bowman, Peter (1964), Índice geobiográfico de cuarenta mil pobladores españoles de América en el siglo XVI (Vol. I), Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo
- Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, Madrid: Gredos
- Cravens, Thomas D. (2002), Comparative Historical Dialectology: Italo-Romance clues to Hispano-Romance sound change, Amsterdam: John Benjamins
- Erichsen, Gerald (January 27, 2018), "Languages of Spain Not Limited to Spanish: Spanish is one of four official languages", ThoughtCo
- Hammond, Robert M. (2001), The Sounds of Spanish: Analysis and Application (with Special Reference to American English), Somerville, Massachusetts: Cascadilla Press, ISBN 1-57473-018-5
- Lapesa, Rafael (1981) [1942], Historia de la lengua española (9th ed.), Madrid: Gredos, ISBN 84-249-0072-3
- Lathrop, Thomas A. (2003), The Evolution of Spanish, Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta, ISBN 1-58977-014-5
- Lipski, John M. (1994), Latin American Spanish, London: Longman
- Lloyd, Paul M. (1987), From Latin to Spanish, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society (Memoirs, Vol. 173), ISBN 0-87169-173-6
- ISBN 84-00-03462-7
- Ostler, Nicholas (2005), Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, New York: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-621086-0
- Penny, Ralph (2000). Variation and Change in Spanish. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-78045-4.
- Penny, Ralph (2002), A History of the Spanish Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-01184-6
- Spaulding, Robert Kilburn (1971) [1943], How Spanish Grew, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-01193-7
- Walsh, Thomas J. (1991), "The Demise of Lenition as a Productive Phonological Process in Hispano-Romance", in Harris-Northall, Ray; Cravens, Thomas D. (eds.), Linguistic Studies in Medieval Spanish, Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, pp. 149–163
External links
- An explanation of the development of Medieval Spanish sibilants in Castile and Andalusia (archived 29 December 2009)
- A recording of the sibilants, as they would have been pronounced in medieval Spanish (archived 28 February 2009)
- A History of the Spanish language (sample from the second edition, 2002), by Ralph Penny
- Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (in Spanish)
- Linguistic Time Machine Archived 2011-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Check the historic evolution of Latin words to modern Spanish.