56- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Spain’s biggest export
A considerable proportion of the world greets each
new day with a breathyhola. Only Mandarin Chinese
claims significantly more patrons. Indeed, with
language Spain has its hardest evidence of a once
vast empire – most of the world’s Spanish speakers
(over 350 million use it as a first language) live in
South and Central America.These New World converts
actually refer to their language asCastellanorather than
Spanish, acknowledging that Spain’s national tongue
came from Castile. Perhaps surprisingly, despite such
long distance devotion, in Spain itself a quarter of the
population proudly speak alternative, officially
sanctioned languages.Where did the Spanish language come from?
Spanish has strong Latin roots. Romans brought vulgar Latin to the
peninsula, usurping a mix of Celtic, Iberian, Greek and Phoenician
languages but borrowing the odd word as they went. When the Romans
left, the Iberians fragmented their Latin into various regional Romance
languages. Castile’s role in theReconquistaand, later, building an empire
ensured that its version was taken up as the national tongue.The relative
ease with which it could be learned also helped. Felipe V’sNova Planta
decrees, signed to shore up Castilian power after the Wars of Succession,
confirmed Castile as the language of state. Of Spain’s other surviving
languages, only Basque has non-Latin origins.
The Castilian tongue evolves
The Visigoths already had their version of Latin and left little impression on
the Spanish language, save for some words about keeping horses. Arabic
terms made a greater impression. Most Spanish words with ‘al’ on the front
- aldea(village),alcoba(bedroom),alcázar(palace) – have Moorish ancestry.
Words used for food and drink, includingarroz(rice),naranja(orange) and
albaricoque(apricot), have found their way through, as have many of the
Moorish terms used in their specialist subjects, science and maths. In all,
around 4,000 Spanish words have Arabic origins. However, despite the
Antonio de Nebrija’s
Gramática de la Lengua
Castellana, presented
to Queen Isabel in 1492,
was the first text to
define the grammar of
a European language.
1.3.1 Vocal harmonies: Spain and its languages