In order to decipher the origins of our language, it is necessary to go back to the times before the Roman Empire, where the Phoenicians decided to call the Spanish territory by the name of Hispania, which curiously meant “Land of Rabbits”. A name that would later be adopted by the Romans when they consolidated their dominance in the Iberian Peninsula.
Throughout the territory of the Iberian Peninsula there were various pre-Roman peoples with their own languages, such as the Iberians, Celts, Tartessians and Basques. Although most of these languages disappeared over time, they left a notable influence on the future of the Spanish lexiconIn fact, words like mud, dog and some forms of toponyms have pre-Roman roots.
The Romans, in their expansion through Western Europe, occupied a large part of what we know today as Spain, where They made official the use of Latin, rapidly replacing local languages. Latin became the administrative, legal and military language of the territory. However, the Latin that would predominate would not be the classical one taught in Roman schools, but the Latin vulgar, the spoken version of the language.
Vulgar Latin and the formation of Castilian
El Latin vulgarUnlike classical Latin, it evolved much more quickly because it was used in everyday life by the population without academic training. This Vulgar Latin was more flexible and less formal, and it was the one that led to the creation of Romance languages such as Castilian, French, Italian and Portuguese.
Castilian in particular began to take shape in the Kingdom of Castile during the 9th and 10th centuries, merging local dialects and unifying the different Latin and Visigothic linguistic influences. This process was extremely slow, but over time Castilian became established as the predominant language in the peninsula.
The Arabic influence on the Spanish language
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula underwent several invasions until the Arab conquest came in 711. The Arabs, with their rapid advance through the territory, dominated a large part of the peninsula in just seven years. They would remain in the region for approximately 800 years, achieving unprecedented cultural, scientific and linguistic influence.
During this period known as Al-Andalus, the local population began to absorb numerous terms from Arabic due to the cultural superiority from the invaders in sciences such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. The Arabs brought with them new concepts that enriched the vocabulary of the time, and as a result, the Current Spanish has more than 4.000 words of Arabic origin, many of which we use in our daily lives.
Arabisms that persist in modern Spanish
Some of the most common words of Arabic origin are easily identifiable. Any word that begins with “al” is a clear indication of its Arabic origin: pillow, cotton, basil, among many others. Likewise, words related to science and commerce also come from Arabic, such as algebra, alchemy, store, to mention a few.
El field of toponymy It is also a reflection of the Arab presence on the peninsula, with names such as Guadalquivir, Algeciras o La Mancha coming from Arab roots. These words show us how even in geography these Arabisms persist.
Arab cultural and scientific innovations
During their rule, the Arabs not only contributed words, but also made fundamental advances in European science and culture. They introduced the use of Arabic numerals, the idea of zero, the decimal system and algebra, elements that revolutionized mathematics and that continue to be the basis of our current society.
In fields such as music, the Arabs also left their mark. Instruments such as the guitar and musical forms such as flamenco have Arabic roots, derived from the sounds and rhythms introduced by the Muslims to the peninsula.
The history of Spanish is the product of centuries of complex interactions between different cultures., with Roman influence through Vulgar Latin and the cultural and linguistic impact left by the Arabs. These two civilizations, in their own way, left an indelible mark on the language, which is used today by more than 500 million people. From the thousands of words that come from Latin to the more than 4.000 that have Arabic origins, modern Spanish is a living reflection of the cultural wealth that has nourished the Iberian Peninsula over the centuries.