Forty-Second Edition - Understanding Spanish

With approximately 400 million speakers worldwide, Spanish (Español, Castellano, Castilian), ranks third among the world’s most widely spoken languages. There are forty-five countries around the world where the population speaks Spanish, including Spain, the Canary Islands, Andorra, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Finland and France. Spanish is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union.

Twenty one countries recognize Spanish as either the official or most important language:

1. Argentina
2. Bolivia (with Aymará)
3. Chile
4. Colombia
5. Costa Rica
6. Cuba
7. Dominican Republic
8. Ecuador
9. El Salvador
10. Equatorial Guinea (with French)
11. Guatemala
12. Honduras
13. Mexico
14. Nicaragua
15. Panama
16. Paraguay (with Guaraní)
17. Peru (with Quechua and Aymará)
18. Puerto Rico
19. Spain (with Catalan, Galician, Basque and Aranese)
20. Uruguay
21. Venezuela

Although not recognized as the official language, Spanish is the most important and widely-spoken language in Andorra and Belize. It is also spoken by much of the population of Gibraltar, an English colony claimed by Spain, although English is the colony's only official language.

The largest concentration of Spanish speakers is in Mexico, with almost 100 million speakers, followed by Colombia (44 million), Spain (c. 41 million) and Argentina (39 million). The United States is in fourth place, with approximately 30 million speakers, or about three-quarters of the U.S. Hispanic population of over 40 million.

There are also Spanish speakers in Canada (c. 230 thousand), Israel  (c. 100 thousand, including Spanish and Judaeo-Spanish, Ladino), northern Morocco (c. 20 thousand), the Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey (c. 15 thousand - Judaeo-Spanish, Ladino) and Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara, where it is one of the main languages along with Arab and Hassani ). Until 1973, Spanish was the official language in the Philippines, (currently the official languages are Tagalog and English). Although the number of Filipinos who speak Spanish has decreased significantly (to less than 0.01% of the population), some remnants of Spanish still remain. For instance, Spanish decimals are sill used by many when counting money and many native Filipino languages include many Spanish loan words.

The evolution of the Spanish language

Like all Romance languages, Spanish originated from Latin. In this case, from Vulgar Latin (in Latin, sermo vulgaris) as opposed to Classical Latin. Vulgar Latin was the vernacular of the soldiers of the Roman legions who conquered the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC. The Romans ruled Spain for more than six centuries, and during that time they imposed not only their language, but also Roman Law and the Christian religion on the local population. Like many languages, the evolution of Spanish was influenced by several other languages that contributed to the lexicon over time. 

 
Germanic Influence

In 406 CE much of the Suebi tribe joined the Vandals and Alans and fought for control of Gaul against the Franks, who were allied with the Romans. Eventually, the Suebi crossed the Pyrenees Mountains and entered Spain and, by 409 CE, they controlled the northwestern region of the Iberian Peninsula. The Suebi would remain in the kingdom of Galiza (today Galicia) for 175 years frequently battling the Visigoths, who came to Spain in 416 CE and eventually dominated most of the Peninsula.

The Suebi (or Suevi) were a Germanic tribe. They lived in the near and to the south of the Baltic sea. Their name - Suebi actually originated from “Mare Suebicum,” - the name that the Romans gave the Baltic Sea. In fact, Romans thought of all the Germanic peoples with whom they interacted as Suebi. Eventually, the Suebi would migrate to the area that is today modern Germany, and their name lives on in the historic region of Swabia. The Suebi were also closely related to the Alamanni and, at some point in history, the names Suebi and Alamanni (aka Alemanni) became synonymous..

Although their linguistic influence was not significant, the Suebi left their imprint in the Spanish lexicon, mainly war-related terminology, but also some terminology related to daily life (See Table 1). It is interesting to note that about 1% of the names of places in modern Galicia are of Germanic origin.

Table 1 - Examples of words of Germanic origin

Spanish word	English meaning
bandera	flag
guerra	war
yermo	inhabited
espuela	spur
espía	spy
guisar	to cook, stew
ropa	clothes
jabón	soap
sala	parlor, sitting room, living room, lounge
rueca	distaff
guante	glove

Arabic Influence

It is not possible to understand the history and culture of Spain without considering the significant impact of the Moorish influence. The Moors were from Northwest Africa (present day Morocco and Mauritania), and the name Moor originated with the Romans who referred to the black Africans they encountered during their invasion of West Africa, circa 46 BC, as Mauros (from the Greek term Mauro, that means “dark” or “black”).

In 429 EC, the Vandals defeated the Romans and invaded North Africa. Before advancing to Africa, they settled, temporarily, in the Spanish province of Andalusia (originally, Vandalusia). In the 600s EC, after a short Roman reconquest, the Muslim Arabs swept across North Africa from the East and conquered the entire region within a hundred years. The Islamic faith quickly spread across the Sahara to West Africa and, in 711 CE, the Arabs and Berbers (also called Amazigh, "free men", pl. Imazighen, - a predominantly Caucasoid and Muslim ethnic group) defeated the European army and advanced to the city of Toledo. By 718 CE, the Muslims dominated most of the Peninsula, with exception of a small band along the Cantabric Sea, to where the Visigoths had fled.

The Moorish civilization enlightened Europe and ushered in the Renaissance period. The Moors were unusually tolerant of other races and cultures and, for seven hundred years, Christians, Muslims and Jews coexisted in peace and harmony in the Iberian Peninsula. The Moors did little or no proselytizing, but they demanded an extra tax from non-believers. The Moorish aristocracy promoted private land ownership and encouraged Jews in banking, and for centuries Spain enjoyed unparalleled economic prosperity.

At the beginning of the 9th century, the capital of the Moorish empire – the great Caliphate of Cordova, in southern Spain – was the intellectual center of Europe. Students flocked to Cordova from France and England to study philosophy, science and medicine with Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars.

At a time when London was a village of small mud huts, Cordova was a city of half million inhabitants, who occupied more than one hundred thousand dwellings. The houses in Cordova had gardens with orchards and artificial fountains and marble balconies where residents were able to keep cool in the Summer. Hot air ducts under the mosaic floors kept them warm in the Winter. While paper was still an unknown commodity in the West, the Great Library in Cordova had about six hundred thousand manuscripts. There were also bookshops and more than seventy other libraries.

This era of intellectual and economic prosperity would come to an end as a result of internal rifts within the Moorish power structure. The caliphs were eliminated and Cordova fell to other Moorish forces. The great library of Cordova was destroyed in 1013 and, along with its scholars, the library's books were scattered to the capital towns of small emirates. As the Moors fought against each other, the Christian kingdoms to the North were uniting to fight against them and expel them from Europe. By 1492, the Reyes Católicos (Catholic Kings) were firmly established in the Kingdom of Granada, and soon the Europeans regained control of all of Spain

The Moors did not impose the Arabic language on the Spanish Latin speaking population. The Spanish fiercely defended their language and religion, but many Latin terms became arabicized and some Arabic terms, such as laud, mameluco, marmota, droga, friso, máscara, papagayo, replaced Latin terms.  Many Spanish terms that begin with “al-”, such as : "alcancía, albañil, alcalde, ..." and toponyms that begin with guad- (river), such as Guadalupe (from Guad = river; al = he or she; lupe = women); Guadalajara, Guadalcanal, etc., are of Arabic origin. Also, the strong pronunciation of the letter j (jota) is  due to the Arab legacy. Spanish inherited thousands of words from Arabic (SeeTable 2 ).

Table 2 – Examples of Spanish words of Arabic origin

Spanish word	English meaning
alcalde	mayor
alguacil	bailiff
albacea	executor
adalid	champion
alférez	second lieutenant
alfanje	scimitar
rebato	surprise attack
alarde	show, display
almacén	grocery store
almoneda	auction, clearance
aduana	customs
tarifa	rate, tariff, duty
arancel	tariff, custom duty
alhóndiga	corn exchange
alfombra	rug, carpet
almohada	pillow
albornoz	bathrobe
zaragüelles	Type of undergarment, such as the wide underpants with pleats in the regional costume of Valencia, or the white underpants in the regional costume of Aragon.
álcali	alkali
alquimia	alchemy
alambique	still
alcohol	alcohol
talco	talcum
alcanfor	camphor,
solimán	Substance obtained by distilling mercuric chloride – a very poisonous substance used for medical purposes as a disinfectant.
álgebra	algebra
algoritmo	algorithm
cero	zero
cifra	figure, cipher
guarismo	(frml) figure
tarima	(platform) dais, floor
taracea	inlay, marquetry
alhaja	a piece of jewelry, a gem, a treasure
abalorio	glass bead
ajorca	bracelet
taza	cup
jarra	jar
albañil	bricklayer
alcoba	bedroom
azotea	terrace roof, flat roof
tabique	partition wall, partition, brick (Mexico)
alféizar	windowsill
azulejo	tile (of glazed ceramic)
alcantarilla	drain (cloaca), sewer (sumidero), fountain (Venezuela)
arroz	rice
azúcar	sugar
azafrán	saffron
berenjena	egg plant
zanahoria	carrot
sandía	watermelon
algarroba	carob, carob bean
alcachofa	artichoke,
alubia	bean, haricot bean
aceituna	olive
algodón	cotton
albérchigo	clingstone peach
acequia	irrigation ditch or channel
zanja	ditch, drain, irrigation channel
noria	water wheel, ferris wheel,  big wheel

Greek Influence

Throughout the centuries, Spanish inherited a number of terms from Greek terms at different times throughout the centuries (See Table 3)

Table 3 – Examples of Spanish words of Greek origin

Spanish word	English meaning
escuela	school
cuerda	chord
huérfano	orphan
gobernar	(to) govern
púrpura	purple
golpear	hit, strike
Denia	A town on the Mediterranean
Calpe	A town in Costa Blanca

In addition, Greek roots continue to be used to create new Spanish terms, such as helicóptero and, more recently, telemetría

French Influence

Galicisms were incorporated into the Spanish lexicon during the Middle Ages by travelers along the Camino de Santiago, a road that extended from Paris to Santiago de Compostela, in the North West corner of Spain. (See Table 4)

Table 4 – Examples of Spanish words of French origin (Middle Ages)

Spanish word	English meaning
alemán	German
batalla	battle
barón (title)	Baron
ciprés	cypress
coraje	courage
hereje	heretic
pincel	paint brush
escote	neckline
jamón	ham
joya	jewel
manjar	delicacy
mantel	tablecloth

In the 18th century, as a result of the dynasty of the Borbones, who were of French origin, Spanish incorporated more Galicisms (See Table 5).

Table 5 – Examples of Spanish words of French origin (18th Century)

Spanish word	English meaning
bayoneta	bayonet
bufanda	scarf
brigada	brigade
gabinete	office (as a doctor’s office)
espectro	specter
cadete	cadet
funcionario	functionary
espectador	spectator