Linguistic history of Spanish

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At first just one of many dialects of Iberian Romance spoken in Iberia, the dialect of Castile eventually became identified as the Spanish language (called español or castellano in Spanish). This is due in large part to the cultural hegemony of the Castilians during and after the Reconquista. Modern Spanish is strikingly different from Latin, its main source language, in many ways, but determining exactly when these changes took place is often problematic. The main reason for this lack of hard evidence is the fact that the system of orthography used by speakers of Iberian Romance in the Middle Ages was extremely similar to if not identical to that of Classical Latin. While there were undoubtedly phonological and morphemic differences between Iberian Romance and Latin (and later, between Castilian and Iberian Romance), most of these differences were not reflected in writing until after the Reconquista and even later.

Contents 1 Basque influence 2 Celtic influence 3 Germanic influence 4 Arabic influence 5 Abandonment of phonological length 6 Loss of case system 7 Loss of deponent verbs 8 Latin 'f-' to Spanish 'h-' 9 Voicing 10 Elision 11 Syncope 12 Diphthongization 13 Monophthongization 14 Learned words and consonant cluster simplification 15 Words of non-Latin origin 16 Lists of Spanish etymology 17 See also 18 References

[edit] Basque influence

Many Castilians who took part in the reconquista and later repopulation campaigns were of Basque lineage and this is evidenced by many place names throughout Spain. The change from Latin 'f-' to Spanish 'h-' (discussed at length below) is commonly ascribed to the influence of Basque speakers for a few reasons. The change from f to h was first documented in the areas around Castile and La Rioja, areas where many Basques were known to have lived. The change to h took place to a greater degree in the Gascon language in Gascony in France, an area also inhabited by Basques. The Basque language lacked the f sound and thus substituted it with h, the closest thing to f in that language.
There are some difficulties with attributing this change to Basque though. There is no hard evidence that medieval Basque had an h sound, but there is also no hard evidence that it didn't. Adding to this is the fact that the f to h phenomenon is not peculiar to Spanish. It also happened in certain dialects of three other Romance languages: Romanian, Italian and Sardinian. In fact, the change from f to h is one of the most common phonological changes in all kinds of world languages and is not peculiar to Romance languages. According to the explanations which negate or downplay Basque influence, the change occurred in the affected dialects wholly independent of each other as the result of internal change (i.e. linguistic factors, not outside influence). It is also possible that the two forces worked in concert and reinforced each other.

[edit] Celtic influence

Two specific types of lenition, the voicing of voiceless consonants and the elision of voiced consonants (both of which are discussed at greater length below), are the phonological changes of Spanish which are most often attributed to the influence of Celtic languages. While examples of these two types of lenition are ubiquitous and well-documented in Spanish, two assumptions need to be made if these two types of lenition are to be attributed to patterns of lenition in Celtic languages. The first assumption is that a population of bilingual Celtiberian-Romance speakers existed long enough to have had an influence on the development of Castilian. The second assumption is that Continental Celtic, an extinct branch of Celtic, did indeed exhibit the types of lenition which are known to exist in modern Insular Celtic languages.

[edit] Germanic influence

Although Germanic languages by most accounts affected the phonological development very little, many Spanish words of Germanic origin are very common in all varieties of everyday Spanish. The words for cardinal directions (norte, este, sur, oeste) are all taken from Germanic words (north, east, south and west in Modern English).

[edit] Arabic influence

Main article: Arabic influence on the Spanish language

An important number of Spanish nouns start with the syllable al- (such as alcohol "alcohol", alcoba "alcove, room", almohada "pillow", algodón "cotton", alcalde "judge", alcázar "castle", alfalfa "alfalfa", almirante "admiral" (with an added -d- by erronous association with the Latin prefix ad-), almíbar "syrup", alcatraz "albatross", álcali "alkali", alquimia "alchemy", algoritmo "algorithm", álgebra "algebra", albacora "albacore", Alhambra "Red Castle", Al-Andalus "Andalusia") have Arabic origins, as well as many that start with at-, az- and others (such as azufre "sulfur" and ataúd "coffin", azúcar "sugar", azul "azure"), azafrán "saffron". This is due to the interpretation of the Arabic proclitic definite article al as part of the following word.

[edit] Abandonment of phonological length

At a very early time in the development of Romance, the distinction between Latin long vowels and short vowels was very slight and the number of minimal pairs based on vowel length is much smaller than in Latin.

Minimal pairs in Latin
Language	Long vowel	Meaning	Short vowel	Meaning	Long vowel	Meaning	Short vowel	Meaning	Long vowel	Meaning	Short vowel	Meaning
Latin	pīlum	javelin	pilum	hair	līber	free	liber	book	fīdēs	you will trust	fidēs	faith
Spanish	lanza	-	pelo	-	libre	-	libro	-	fiar	-	fe	-
Latin	lēvis	smooth	levis	light	lēgit	he read	legit	he reads	sēdēs	abode	sedēs	you sit
Spanish	-	-	leve	-	-	-	lee	he reads	-	-	-	-
Latin	mālum	apple	malum	bad	lābrum	washtub	labrum	lip	lātus	wide	latus	side
Spanish	manzana	-	malo	-	-	-	labio	-	ancho	-	lado	-
Latin	ōs	mouth	os	bone	pōpulus	poplar	populus	people	sōlum	alone	solum	soil
Spanish	boca	-	hueso	-	álamo	-	personas	-	solo	-	suelo	-
Latin	fūris	thief	furis	you rage	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Spanish	ladrón	-	rabiar	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

This loss of distinction in vowel length would have made the nominative case and the ablative case of the first declension identical in sound (but still distinct in writing).

[edit] Loss of case system

The gradual loss in the number of grammatical cases in Indo-European languages has been happening since long before Classical Latin and the trend culminated (in the Italic family) in the complete loss of inflection seen in all of the Romance languages (except Romanian). This means that Spanish, like other Indo-European languages, through its oldest to its modern form, has steadily depended less on inflections (suffixes on nouns, adjectives etc.) to demonstrate syntactical relationships and more on word order and prepositions. Quintilian (c. AD 35-95) remarked that the final 'm' of most Latin words was barely pronounced. This observation suggests that the nominative case and the accusative case of the first declension were merged in speech (but the -m was retained in writing). Similarly, the accusative case and the ablative case of the third declension would have merged in speech. This implies that the distinction between the nominative case and the accusative case probably barely existed after the common era in Iberia if at all.

[edit] Loss of deponent verbs

Latin had nearly 1,000 deponent verbs, but by the time Castilian emerged as the dominant dialect of Spanish, all of them had either been switched to one of the regular verb conjugations or disappeared from the vocabulary altogether. The process of converting deponent verbs to regular conjugations began in Latin before the common era. Plautus used horto, lucto and sortio (regular conjugation) in place of hortor, luctor and sortior (deponent).

Switch/loss of deponent verbs
Status	Latin deponent	Regularized Spanish
regularized	demoliri, demorari, metiri, mori, nasci, operari, ordiri, pati, sequi	demoler, demorar, medir, morir, nacer, operar, urdir, padecer, seguir
"lost"	conari, loqui, oriri,

In some cases, the deponent verb was lost, but noun, adjectives etc based on that verb were kept. From the Latin 'conari' (to try, attempt) comes the Spanish 'conato' (an attempt, effort). From Latin 'loqui' (to speak) comes the Spanish 'elocuente' (eloquent) and 'locutor' (speaker, radio announcer).

[edit] Latin 'f-' to Spanish 'h-'

'F' was almost always initial in Latin words and most of these words in Spanish start with h-. There are many words where the 'f-' was maintained, but most of these examples are from learned words (words transmitted primarily by writing rather than orally). This is one of the most predictable patterns in the development of Spanish and the first written record of it is from 863 when the Latin 'Forticius' was written as 'Ortiço.' The h- was originally pronounced as an aspirate (i.e. as an h in English) but is now silent in most dialects. The Latin grapheme f represented either a voiceless labiodental fricative (exactly like f in Modern English and Modern Spanish) or a voiceless bilabial fricative (similar to f in Modern English and Modern Spanish and exactly like the 'f' sound of Japanese).

Examples of Latin 'f-' to Spanish 'h-'
consonants	Latin word	Spanish word
f- ---> h-	filius, folia, fungus, ferrum, facere, facienda, factus, farina, femina, furca, formosus, Ferdinandus	hijo, hoja, hongo, hierro, hacer, hacienda, hecho, harina, hembra, horca, hermoso, Hernando or Fernando

[edit] Voicing

One of the most common and predictable changes from Latin to Spanish is the voicing of voiceless consonants. The three voiceless consonants affected most often were p, t and c (where c was pronounced hard, as c in cake). The voiced equivalents of these three unvoiced consonants are b, d and g (where g was pronounced hard, as g in girl). The initial and final consonants are rarely affected, but intervocalic consonants (consonants between two vowels) were affected more often than not.

Examples of voicing in Spanish
consonants	Latin word	Spanish word
p ---> b	aperire, apotheca, cooperire, lupus, opera, populus	abrir, bodega, cubrir, lobo, obra, pueblo
t ---> d	civitatis, digitus, latus, mater, mutare, scutum, venite	ciudad, dedo, lado, madre, mudar, escudo, venid
c ---> g	apotheca, dico, focus, lacus, locus, saeculum	bodega, digo, fuego, lago, luego, siglo

Examples of words in which more than one consonant has been voiced (such as the above bodega) are not uncommon in Spanish. Many words also underwent voicing and elision (discussed below). In the Latin 'digitus,' the 'g' was elided and the 't' was voiced to 'd' and it became dedo.

The case of digo is an interesting example as it shows different phonetic changes appearing in different verb forms. Notably, some forms of decir will feature the Latin /k/ to Spanish /θ/ change (which occurs when Latin /k/ is followed by /i/ or /e/), but in other verb forms /k/ is voiced to /g/. This also occurs in a few other Spanish verbs ending in -cer or -cir, as in the table below:

Forms with /k/ -> /θ/			Forms with voicing of /k/ to /g/
English	Latin	Spanish	English	Latin	Spanish
To say, to tell It says, it tells	dicere /diːkere/ dicet /diːket/	decir /de'θiɾ/ dice /'diθe/	I say, I tell May it tell	dico /diːkoː/ dicat /diːkat/	digo /'digo/ diga /'diga/
To do, to make It does, it makes	facere /fakere/ facit /fakit/	hacer /a'θeɾ/ hace /'aθe/	I do, I make May it make	facio /fakjoː/ faciat /fakjat/	hago /'ago/ haga /'aga/

[edit] Elision

While unvoiced intervocalic consonants were often voiced, many voiced intervocalic consonants were simply dropped from words altogether through a process called elision. This process usually affected voiced intervocalic consonants (b, d and g) it also sometimes affected unvoiced intervocalic consonants (see mascar < masticare below).

Examples of elision in Spanish
consonant	Latin word	Spanish word
b ---> Ø	cubitum, debita, dubitare	codo, deuda, dudar
d ---> Ø	comedere, hodie, quomodo?	comer, hoy, como?
g ---> Ø	cogitare, digitus, legere, regis, vagina	cuidar, dedo, leer, rey, vaina
t ---> Ø	masticare, amatis	mascar, amáis

[edit] Syncope

Although there are many examples of syncope in Spanish, this development in western romance languages was fairly late and not as extensive as in Eastern Romance Languages.

Examples of syncope in Spanish
consonant	Latin word	Spanish word
e ---> Ø	eremu	yermo
i ---> Ø	veritate	verdad
o ---> Ø	temporanu	temprano
u ---> Ø	oculu	ojo

[edit] Diphthongization

Diphthongization in Spanish happens to vowels that are stressed as the conjugation of Modern Spanish verbs can attest: yo quiero, nosotros queremos; yo puedo, vos podés; yo juego, vosotros jugáis, etc.

Examples of diphthongization in Spanish
consonant	Latin word	Spanish word
e ---> ie	bene, terra	bien, tierra
o ---> ue	bonus, focus	bueno, fuego

[edit] Monophthongization

Examples of monophthongization in Spanish
consonant	Latin word	Spanish word
ae ---> e	caespite, saeta	césped, seda
au ---> o	taurus, causa	toro, cosa
oe ---> e	poena, foedus	pena, feo

[edit] Learned words and consonant cluster simplification

Learned words became increasingly frequent with the works of Alfonso X in the late 1300s. Many of these words contained consonant clusters which had usually been reduced to simpler consonant clusters or single consonants in previous centuries. This same process effected many of these new, more academic, words, especially when the words extended into popular usage in the Old Spanish period. Some of the consonant clusters affected were -kt-, -pt-, -kθ-, -gn-, -mn-, and -mpt-. Most of the simplified forms have since reverted back to the learned forms or are now considered to be uneducated.

Reduction of consonant clusters
Consonant cluster	Latin form	Learned form	Old Spanish form	Modern Spanish form
kt ---> t	effectum, perfectum, respectum, secta	efecto, perfecto, respecto, secta	efeto, perfeto, respeto, seta	efecto, perfecto, respeto/respecto, secta
pt ---> t	acceptare, baptismus, conceptus	acepter, baptismo, concepto	acetar, bautismo, conceto	aceptar, bautismo, concepto
kθ ---> cc ---> c	affectione, lectum, perfectum	affección, lección, perfección	afición, lición, perfeción	afición/afección, lección, perfección
gn ---> n	dignus, magnificare, significare	digno, magnífico, significar	dino, manífico, sinificar	digno, magnífico, significar
mn ---> n	columna, solemnitatis	columna, solemnidad	coluna, solenidad	columna, solemnidad
mpt ---> nt	promptus, exemptus	prompto, exempto	pronto, exento	pronto, exento

Most of these words have modern forms which more closely resemble Latin than Old Spanish. In Old Spanish, the simplified forms were acceptable forms which were in coexistenece (and sometimes competition) with the learned forms. The Spanish educational system, and later the Real Academia Española, with their demand that all consonants of a word be pronounced, steadily drove most simplified forms from existence. Many of the simplified forms were used in literary works in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (sometimes intentionally as an archaism), but have since been relegated mostly to popular and uneducated speech. Occasionally, both forms exist in Modern Spanish with different nuances of meaning or in idiomatic usage. Afición is a 'fondness for' of 'taste for' while afección is 'affection,' or 'illness.' Modern Spanish respeto is 'respect' while con respecto a means 'with regard to.'

[edit] Words of non-Latin origin

Seventy-five percent of Spanish words have come from Latin^[1] and were in use in Spain before the Common Era. The remaining 25 percent come from other languages. The languages (and language families) which have contributed the words are (in alphabetical order) [[African languages (such as Gikuyu, Khoikhoi, Kimbundu, and Mandinka), Indigenous languages of the Americas (such as Arawakan, Aymara, Carib, Mayan, Nahuatl, Quechua, Tarahumara, and Tupi), Arabic, Australian Aboriginal languages, Austronesian languages (such as Tagalog, Hawaiian, Javanese, and Malay), Balti, Basque, Berber, Caló, Celtic languages (such as Gaulish), Chinese, Czech, Dravidian languages, Egyptian, Etruscan, French (non-Latin derived), Germanic languages (such as English, Frankish, Langobardic, Middle Dutch, Middle High German, Middle Low German, Old English, Old High German, Old Norse, Old Swedish, and Visigothic), Hungarian, Indo-Aryan languages (such as Gujarati and Sanskrit), Iranian languages (such as Avestan and Persian), Italic languages (such as Oscan and Italian), Japanese, Ligurian, Mongolian, Semitic (Akkadian, Aramaic and Hebrew but excluding Arabic), Slavic (such as Old Church Slavonic, Polish, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian) and Turkic languages (such as Kazakh, Kyrgyz Tatar, and Turkish).
Of these languages (and language families), the four which have contributed the most words are Arabic, Indigenous languages of the Americas, Germanic, and Celtic in roughly that order.

[edit] Lists of Spanish etymology

African – Americas – Arabic – Austronesian – Basque/Iberian – Celtic – Chinese – Etruscan – French – Germanic – Greek – Indo-Aryan – Iranian – Italic – Latin – Semitic – Turkic – uncertain – various: includes Australian Aboriginal languages, Balti, Berber, Caló, Czech, Dravidian, Egyptian, Hungarian, Ligurian, Mongolian, and Slavic (such as Old Church Slavonic, Polish, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian).

[edit] See also

• History of the Spanish language
• Influences on the Spanish language
• Iberian language
• Vulgar Latin
• Romance languages
• List of English words of Spanish origin
• Spanish dialects and varieties

[edit] References

• "From Latin to Spanish" by Paul M. Lloyd (ISBN 0-87169-173-6)
• "The University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary" by Carlos Castillo and Otto F. Bond (ISBN 0-671-74348-1)
• "Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española" by Guido Gómez de Silva (ISBN 968-16-2812-8)
• "The Bantam New College Latin & English Dictionary" by John C. Traupman (ISBN 0-553-57301-2)
• "Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition" (ISBN 0-02-863474-8)