Brief history of the Spanish language in 10 milestones

Discover the origin and spread of Spanish through 10 key moments that shaped the history of one of the most important languages today.

The Banner of Ur (c. 2500 b.C.)Fundación Antonio de Nebrija

1. Before Latin: Pre-Roman languages

Prior to the Roman conquest, which began in the 3rd century BC, the north of the Iberian Peninsula was already speaking Basque, Andalucia was speaking Tartessian, and the Spanish Levant was speaking Iberian. In the central and northeast areas Ligurians, Celts, and Celtiberians could be found.

An address by a Roman emperor (1638) by Giovanni LanfrancoOriginal Source: Prado Museum

2. Roman conquest

With the advance of the Romans, Latin spread across the region and created linguistic unity. The Latin that arrived was not classic Latin but a colloquial dialect called vulgar. With the exception of Basque, the Pre-Roman languages gradually disappeared.

Ataulfo, king Godo (1634) by Vicente CarduchoOriginal Source: Prado Museum

3. The languages of the Germanic peoples

During the 5th century, the Germanic peoples, or Barbarians, invaded the Iberian Peninsula. This suppressed culture and made communication difficult. Latin was abandoned and the unity was lost, with variants of Latin emerging throughout the region.

Interior of the Mosque of Cordoba (1838) by David RobertsOriginal Source: Prado Museum

4. The Arab invasion

In 711, almost without resistance, the Arabs occupied nearly the entire Peninsula. For eight decades, their culture and language had a significant impact on the south of the Peninsula. Mozarabic, a combination of Romance languages with many Arabic terms, emerged.

An Avenue in Andalusia or The Maja and the cloaked Men (1777) by Royal Tapestry Factory, from a Goya cartoonThe Catedral de Santiago Foundation

5. Spanish Romance languages

During the 8th century, Romance or Spanish Romance languages emerged far from the regions where Arabic rule was stronger: Galician, Leonese, Asturian, Castillian, Navarro-Aragonese, and Catalan.

The Glosas Emilianenses (X century)Fundación Antonio de Nebrija

6. Origin and spread of Castilian

Castilian Spanish emerged from Cantabria in several counties belonging to the kingdom of Leon. The first Castilian texts come from the 10th century and can be found in documents called the Silent Glosses (Glosas Silenses) and Glosses of Emilianus (Glosas Emilianenses). The Toledo School of Translators (Escuela de Traductores de Toledo) was later founded in the 12th century.

The surrender of Granada (1882) by Francisco Pradilla y OrtizFundación Antonio de Nebrija

In the 15th century after the conquest of Granada, the Catholic monarchy expelled the Jews. They left the Peninsula, taking Castilian with them. This language spread to other territories in the same way and dominated over other Peninsular languages.

Spanish Grammar (1492) by Antonio de NebrijaOriginal Source: Spanish National Library

7. First Castilian grammar

In 1492, the great Spanish Humanist Elio Antonio de Nebrija published his Castilian Grammar (Gramática Castellana), the first of all Romance languages, which served as their template. He wanted to define, codify, and preserve the structure of Castilian for the future.

From the Conquest of Mexico (Otumba) (1887) by Manuel RamírezOriginal Source: Prado Museum

8. The golden era of Spanish

In the 16th century, Spanish established itself in the colonies and reached its peak. The political and economic power gained by Spain would result in cultural growth delivered by Castilian, which would later be called Spanish.

The Dictionary of Authorities (1726) by RAEFundación Antonio de Nebrija

9. Modern and contemporary Spanish

The Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española) was founded in 1713 and published its first work, the Dictionary of Authorities (Diccionario de Autoridades) (1726–1737). After the Hispanoamerican countries declared independence, Spanish became the main language, and language academies were established in these regions.

Mural painting (29-03-2019)Fundación Antonio de Nebrija

10. Spanish today

Nowadays, Spanish is the official language in 21 countries and one of the official languages of the European Union and United Nations. It is the second most common mother tongue worldwide and is spoken by more than 590 million people across the globe.

Credits: Story

Content acquired from the National Library of Spain (Biblioteca Nacional de España).
© Photography Archive Museo Nacional del Prado.


Curator: Rodrigo Díaz

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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