Spanish or Castilian?
Learn the correct term for the language and why there is so much debate surrounding it.
An address by a Roman emperor (1638) by Giovanni LanfrancoOriginal Source: Prado Museum
Castilian
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Classical Latin began to lose ground to Vulgar Latin. Later, with the arrival of the Barbarians, Latin was abandoned and the language diversified into variants across the entire Iberian Peninsula.
Interior of the Mosque of Cordoba (1838) by David RobertsOriginal Source: Prado Museum
By the 8th century, the country was linguistically divided. In Muslim-ruled Al-Ándalus, the dialects were a mix of Latin and Arabic while in the Christian kingdoms, they spoke languages derived from Latin, which were known as Romance languages.
Hispania (1652) by Giovanni NicolosiOriginal Source: National Library of Spain
Of course, people were aware of the differences between these Romance languages, so they needed to specify which one was being spoken. That is how Galician-Portuguese, Asturian-Leonese, Navarro-Aragonese, Catalan, and Castilian came about.
Alhambra, king of Granada, pays a vassallage to the king of Castile, Fernando III The Holy (1874) by Pedro GonzálezOriginal Source: Prado Museum
Around the 11th and 12th centuries, there was a new campaign to standardize these into one language, especially in the central regions of the peninsula. King Fernando III united the two kingdoms of León and Castile in 1230 and Alfonso X would later make Castilian the official language.
The Kingdome of Spain (1750)Original Source: National Library of Spain
Spanish
The word español—which is Castilian for Spanish—comes from the Provençal espaignol, which in turn comes from the Medieval Latin term "hispaniolus", meaning Hispania, the Roman name for Spain.
Portraits of St. Louis of France and his wife Margaret of Provence and other characters (1846) by Manuel CastellanoOriginal Source: National Library of Spain
There is evidence that the adjective "español" to describe the residents of Hispania first appeared in written texts as "espaignol" in Provence in the 12th century. Slowly, the term spread from Provence across the south of France and into northern Aragon and Catalonia.
Treasure of the Spanish language, or Spanish (1611) by Sebastian de CobarrubiasOriginal Source: National Library of Spain
In 1611, Covarrubias published a monolingual dictionary entitled «Treasure of the Castilian or Spanish Language» (Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana, o Española), demonstrating that both terms were used interchangeably at that time. In 1925, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) renamed its dictionary the Spanish Language Dictionary.
Which is the correct term?
The Royal Spanish Academy provides a clear and concise explanation:
when referring to the common language spoken in Spain and in many countries in the Americas, as well as to the native language in many other parts of the world, the terms Castilian and Spanish are both valid.
Peru (2020) by Alex AzabacheFundación Antonio de Nebrija
The term Spanish is preferred for reasons of clarity, as it refers unambiguously to the language spoken today by more than four hundred million people. It is also the term used around the world (Spanish, espagnol, spagnolo, etc.).
Madrid (2019) by Erica ZhaoFundación Antonio de Nebrija
Nevertheless, the noun Castilian is used to refer to the country's common language to differentiate it from the other official languages in the autonomous regions, such as Catalan, Galician, or Basque.
Mexico City (2022) by Frank IxtepanFundación Antonio de Nebrija
In the Americas, especially in South America, Castilian is preferred to Spanish when referring to the language. The word Castilian alludes to the language's origins whereas the word Spanish evokes the conquest and the colonial administration.
Colombia (2020) by Promadik TravelFundación Antonio de Nebrija
When declaring the official language in their constitutions, the Central American countries prefer the term Spanish while most of the South American countries opt for Castilian, although the constitutions of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay do not mention the issue.
With information taken from the interview with María Noemí Domínguez, doctor of linguistics at Salamanca University, and from the book History of the Spanish Language (Historia de la Lengua Española) by Rafael Cano-Aguilar.
Curator: Rodrigo Díaz
