Spanish, after English, is the most widely spread language in the world and if you include the number of people who are fluent in Spanish as a second language, the total number of Spanish speakers in the world is nearly 500 million. Spanish is spoken in 28 different countries as either the first or the largest secondary language and it is also a language with a rich cultural heritage. Regularly Spanish‚ as well as Latin American writers have been awarded the Nobel prize for literature with the flamboyant Camilo José Cela from Spain and Octavio Paz from Mexico as the latest recipients of this prestigious price in 1989 and 1990 respectively.

Just like French, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian, Spanish developed from the “Vulgar Latin”, spread over big parts of Europe by the conquering Roman legions while classical Latin soon became a “dead” language. In pre Roman times however, various tribes lived on the Iberian Peninsula, each with their own language although it was only Basque that was not substituted for the new Latin language. The evolution of this first general language for the Iberians was changed by two political causes; the breaking up of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and the Moorish invasion in the 8th century. With the coming of the Germanic tribes such as the Vandals and the Visigoths it was not only the political structure of the Roman Empire that was destroyed but also the linguistic homogeneity, thus starting the birth of the Latin‚ also called Romance languages.

When in 711 the Moors entered Spain via Gibraltar a new linguistic situation soon originated between the Arabic of the invaders and the Romance of the invaded. Till today the Arabic influence in the Spanish vocabulary is noticeable and covers nearly every aspect of human activity. It gives an appearance to Spanish which distinguishes it markedly from French and Italian with words like “albanil”(mason), “alcalde”(mayor), “algodon”(cotton) and “quilate”(carat) and also place names like for instance Istan and Benahavis betray their Arab origin. Words of Visigothic origin that have survived are far less and were for the most part concerned with the waging of war, e.g., “guerra”(war), “yelmo”(helmet) and “robar”(to steal).

Latin, which previously had united nearly the whole peninsula, started to break up in various fragments. Some converted themselves into languages such as Gallego (which later gave birth to the Portuguese language)‚ Catalan and Castellano(Castillian), others survived as dialects and one even dissappeared, Mozarabic.

Castellano which originated in old Cantabria extended itself all the way to the South and during the 16th and 17th centuries it converted itself into the language which is basically the one that is spoken today. The very first traces of Spanish however are found in Latin documents of the 8th century and the oldest known piece written in medieval Castillian is the poem “El cantar Cid” written during the 12th century. During the reign of King Alfonso the 10th (1252-1284) a most significant undertaking took place i.e. the translation of all the historic and juridical documents from Latin, Arabic and Hebrew into Castillian.

In 1492, the year in which the Moors were driven out of Granada and Columbus discovered the New World, the great humanist Antonio de Nebrija published his famous “Grammar of the Spanish language”. He dedicated this work to Queen Isabella with the words “Languages were always the companions of empires”. Thus the influence of the Arabs in words, thought and action which had been so profound for centuries, came to an end and Spanish began to feel the full impact of the Renaissance. A new view of the universe required a richer and more flexible language and colonisation carried Spanish to all four corners of the earth. Medieval Spanish changed into modern Castillian, a process which went on untill the 18th century and from the 16th century onwards the terms “Castellano” and “Español” are used to describe the same language. Nowadays the name given to the official Spanish language is “Castellano” but Catalan, Basque and Gallego are also Spanish languages.

The rich vocabulary of the Spanish language reflects the often turbulent history of the Spanish people and makes it possible to express oneself in a most fluid and flowery way. Thus it has, after English, become the most widely used language on this planet and studying it a little will help you understand and appreciate the enigma that Spain still remains to most foreigners today.