The Spanish Language – Part I: How it came to be

Bordered by the Pyrenees Mountains with France and north of the Strait of Gibraltar lies a tract of land known as the Iberian Peninsula.

Spain and Portugal, part of that peninsula, endured centuries of invasion by different ethnic groups, so it is no wonder that the Spanish (or Castilian) language developed a structure that encompasses and includes a base of words borrowed from the various people who first inhabited the peninsula. This is of vast importance, given the fact that the Spanish language is still spoken in many areas of the United States of America.

In order to fully understand the changes that later developed into the Spanish language, we must travel the roads of history and become acquainted with the different cultures that arrived in Spain centuries before and after Christ. It will help us understand not only the Spanish language spoken in the Rio Grande Valley, but also the different groups that eventually became the present day Hispanics.

First, we must understand that every language spoken was developed via a combination of many other languages, and that none is considered pure nor lacking in invasion by others. When cultures connect throughout history, they inevitably exchange and mingle their elements, their particular languages and their cultures.

Centuries before the birth of Christ, the Iberian Peninsula was a desolate area. Historians have informed us that the earliest ethnic group to arrive in Spain were the Iberians, although other scholars say Spanish Jews ( Sefarditas) and the Basque already had established themselves there by then. But it was the Roman invasion of Spain in 218 B.C that brought the Latin language to that land, and in many cases it was a mixed version of Greek, Latin and other languages spoken by the Romans as they made their way into the many different countries.

That "language" soon developed into two versions: one was called "Latín clásico" and was spoken by Spain’s educated. The other was called "Latín vulgar" and was spoken by ordinary people. We find evidence of this in the literature of the time, the "Jarchas," a type of "Cántigas de Amigos" poetry written 100 years before the "Poema del Mío Cid" (1140 AD). That combined the three languages alive in Spain at that time — Hebrew, Spanish or Castilian, and Arabic.

In the " Poema de Mío Cid," we see the use of this new language in its entirety, a language that later became known as Castilian, or Spanish, and that had evolved from "Latín vulgar."

From there evolved other variants still spoken in Spain, such as Gallego-Portugués, Leonés-Aragonés, Andaluz, Asturiano, Catalán, Valenciano, and, of course, Spanish, which dominated all of Spain and became the official language of that country.

So, from the "Latín clásico," we have such derivations: " alacrem" became "alegre"; "cava" became "cueva"; "frigidum" shortened to "frío" ; "legere" to "leer" ; "oculum" to "ojo"; "ecclesia" became "iglesia"; "avia" lengthened to "abuela"; and "odorem" became "olor."

We find many hundred of other such derivations, all now considered proper words in modern Spanish.