The history of Spanish in about 6 minutes. Chapter 1: Before the Romans
or ‘Ante Pasta’
Though Spanish is a Romance language, evolved from Latin… its history begins before the
Romans ever set foot on the Iberian Peninsula. Back in the Second Century BC – the peninsula
had several civilisations and languages. Including Iberian, Basque, Celtiberian,
Tartessian and Gallaecian. Though not all these civilisations lasted, many words remain today
From the Celts we probably got the words for beer and shirt. While the Basque language
brought us cod and top hat and drizzle – which wasn’t quite as welcome.
And if all these civilisations weren't enough then
the Phoenicians and Carthaginians turned up – with their own languages founding places like
Gadir and Malaca now known as Cádiz and Málaga.
Followed by the Greeks from the East – with great words like 'poem' and 'history' which were
certainly not a 'problem' plus words like 'hysteria' which were.
But the main influence of Greek on the language didn’t come until later – via Latin - and the
Romans... The history of Spanish in about 6 minutes.
Chapter 2: Latin Gets everywhere or ‘Don’t be vulgar with me’
There are two main types of Latin – Classical – used in writing, politics and poetry. And
Vulgar – which was mainly spoken. Spanish comes from Vulgar Latin. We get ‘casa’ – from
the Vulgar for hut, not the Classical for House. But more on that ‘mañana’ – which is from
‘manaena’, meaning at the early hour and not from the Latin ‘cras’ meaning tomorrow.
As their Empire expanded the Romans arrived at the Peninsula around 200BC – and after a
couple of hundred years of war – conquered it. Latin was around for centuries, giving us most
of the Spanish lexicon. Even Siesta comes from Latin for Sixth Hour - the hottest
time of the day.
But remnants of the old indigenous languages still survived mixing with Latin as it evolved.
From 7th Century, the varieties of Latin spoken on the peninsular were gradually becoming
very different from that spoken in other areas. But we have to wait until 1492 to see the first
grammar of a Romance Language published, written by humanist Antonio de Nebrija
The history of Spanish in about 6 minutes. Chapter 3: Germanic Visigoth and Arabic
Influences or ‘Do you prefer your goths visi or still?
In the 5th century several Germanic groups invaded the peninsula before being chased off by
another group – the Visigoths. Who stayed for 300 years, but didn't influence the culture and
the language much, as they stuck to Roman customs.
But they did leave words, many to do with admin and war.
And popularised many suffixes – az, ez, iz
and oz that are found on Spanish surnames.
Around the 8th Century - a Muslim army from North Africa, landed and conquered the
Visigoths settling in for centuries. Their impact on the Spanish lexicon was enormous.
In the kitchen alone they gave us sugar, oil, noodles, watermelon and alcohol. And for afters
dished up around 4000 more words. Many beginning with the Arabic article ‘a’ or al- as a
prefix - like ‘al’ and ‘kuhl’ – the classic Arabic name for alcohol.
The Iberian Peninsula didn’t just absorb other languages, it also 'spread the words...' When
the Sephardic Jews were expelled in 1492 they took their Spanish language to places like
Turkey, the Balkans and Greece - where different varieties of Judeo-Spanish are still spoken
today, which is more than you can say for Gothic. The history of Spanish in about 6 minutes.
Chapter 4: Spanish and other Romance Languages or Romance is all about give and take
The Romance language of French influenced Spanish in waves – in the 10th Century
pilgrimages across the mountains known as the French Way brought Friars, Monks and
Priests and jokes about a friar, a monk and a priest walking into a tasca.
Don Quixote was the poster boy for the golden age of Spanish Literature. and while new
words from France were appearing like skirting
board and napkin, this was a time when Spanish influenced the rest of Europe
The biggest wave of French influence broke in the 18th Century with the arrival of the smartly
dressed Bourbon Dynasty with their dapper jackets, snazzy trousers and lots of money. They
really were the élite. And during the reign of the Bourbon King
Philip the 5th there was built the Real Academia Española committed to standardising the language,
publishing dictionaries grammar books and keeping an eye on
Spanish wherever it was spoken. Other Romance languages also made their mark.
The Catalans gave us words like paper and paella Galicians brought homesickness and a rash
Italians brought the casino and courting. Because Romance gets everywhere…
The history of Spanish in about 6 minutes.
Chapter 5: Spanish and the languages of the Empire or - The Empire Strikes Tobacco.
Christopher Columbus arrived on an island in the West Indies and imaginatively named it La
Española - this was the first contact between the Spanish language and more than 2000
languages of the Indigenous Americans. As colonisation grew and Bourbon reforms
enforced the use of Spanish. These 2000 indigenous languages shrunk to around 700.
The Spanish language at the same time grew richer. Languages like Nahuatl give tomatoes
and chocolate. From Arahuac we get guava. So today you can eat chocolate and guava,
while experiencing altitude sickness (from Quechua).
The Real Academia Española focussed on standardising Spanish as spoken in Spain but
nowadays there are 23 academies across the world that work together to promote alternate,
equally valid forms of Spanish.
Spanish influence reaches across the globe. From America to Equatorial Guinea where
Spanish is an official language. While in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, the days of
the week sound very familiar to Spanish speakers and creole languages like Chabacano are
also derived from Spanish...Chabacano itself roughly means ‘vulgar’ which takes us right
back to those Romans. The history of Spanish in about 6 minutes.
Chapter 6: Spanish and English or - Hasta la vista, Alligator.
Though more people speak Spanish or Mandarin as a first language… English is the most
popular second language – so it’s become a Lingua Franca. Which is - ironically - Italian.
Spanish regularly borrows English words – So it’s ‘OK’ to ‘post’ 'online' about Fútbol while
listening to ‘Blues’. Unless you’re meant to be doing something else.
Just Latin evolved based on geography, Spanish has also branched out. Llanito Spanish of
Gibraltar is so influenced by English they have ‘saltipina’ and 'Juvas'. And several groups in
the US speak Spanglish – a mixture of the two languages. Hasta la vista, baby
In fact, the influence of English has even prompted Spanish to develop words that resemble
English ones – but aren’t. Like footing [pause] Or puenting -literally 'bridging'
This has been going on so long that we get the Spanish aligátor from the English ‘alligator’ -
which originally came from the Spanish lagarto. Which is a great example of languages
chasing their tails and how they never stop evolving.