A Short History of the Spanish Language
Before the Romans
Long before Spanish existed, the Iberian Peninsula was home to Iberians, Celts, Tartessians and Basques. Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians later founded trading towns along the coast. These early languages left traces in place names and in a few words still used today, such as cerro (hill, from Iberian) and camisa (shirt, of Celtic origin). Basque is the only pre-Roman language still spoken in Spain, and it gave Spanish words such as izquierda (left).
Hispania: Latin arrives
From the 3rd century BC, Rome gradually conquered the peninsula and turned it into the province of Hispania. Roman roads, aqueducts and cities such as Mérida and Tarragona can still be seen today. With the Romans came Latin and later Christianity. Spanish developed from Vulgar Latin, the everyday Latin spoken by soldiers, traders and settlers.
Visigoths and Al-Andalus
When the Roman Empire fell, the Germanic Visigoths ruled for more than two centuries and added a few words such as guerra (war). In 711, Muslim armies from North Africa conquered most of the peninsula, and the era of Al-Andalus began. Córdoba became a centre of science, philosophy and architecture. Arabic left a deep mark: around 4,000 Spanish words come from it, including azúcar (sugar), almohada (pillow) and ojalá (hopefully).
The rise of Castilian
Meanwhile, the small Christian kingdoms in the north began the centuries-long Reconquista. Around the 9th century, a distinct dialect took shape in Castile. As Castile expanded southwards, Castilian pushed aside neighbouring dialects such as Leonese and Aragonese. In the 13th century, King Alfonso X “the Wise” made Castilian the language of law, science and government.
The Catholic Monarchs and 1492
In 1469, Isabella I of Castile married Ferdinand II of Aragon, uniting the two crowns. The year 1492 changed everything. The Catholic Monarchs conquered Granada, the last Muslim kingdom, ending nearly 800 years of Islamic rule. They financed Columbus’s voyage to the Americas. And Antonio de Nebrija published the first grammar of any Romance language, presented to the queen as a tool of empire. The same year, the Jews were forced to convert or leave Spain.
Empire and the Golden Age
Under Charles V and Philip II, Spain ruled an empire “on which the sun never set”. Spanish spread to the Americas, the Philippines and parts of Africa, and picked up new words like chocolate, canoa (canoe) and mate. At home, the Siglo de Oro (Golden Age) produced Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, and painters such as El Greco and Velázquez.
Setting the rules
The Real Academia Española was founded in 1713 to standardise the language, and its first dictionary appeared in 1726. In the 19th century, almost all of Spain’s Latin American colonies became independent, but Spanish remained their language.
Spanish today
Under Franco’s dictatorship (1939–1975), Spain’s regional cultures and languages were suppressed. The democratic constitution of 1978 created autonomous regions, where Catalan, Galician and Basque are now co-official alongside Spanish. Today more than 500 million people speak Spanish. It is the world’s second most spoken language by number of native speakers.
Sources
Marta Díaz, “Historia de la lengua española”, don Quijote, 27 March 2025.
https://www.donquijote.org/es/blog/origen-del-espanol/
“Die gesamte Geschichte von Spanien: Von Al-Andalus bis zur Demokratie”, 28 August 2025
https://www.whudat.de/die-gesamte-geschichte-von-spanien-von-al-andalus-bis-zur-demokratie/.