Spanish vocabulary

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About 90% of Spanish words derive from Latin, 8% from Arabic, and the bulk of the rest come from Germanic, Celtic, or New World languages such as Quechua, Nahuatl, and Carib.

Most words beginning with 'al-' are from Arabic. Persons familiar with French and Italian will often notice Spanish words that derive from Arabic when their own word for the same thing is from Latin. Sometimes Spanish words simply derive from a different Latin word.

An example is 'hermano' (brother) which is totally unlike French 'frère' and Italian 'fratello' (both from Latin 'frater').

Hermano < Lat. germanus < Lat. germen < PIE (Proto-Indo-European) gen- (nothing to do with the germanic peoples). Cognates: French - germain; Portuguese - irmão; Catalan - germà.

Some words are contractions or corruptions of older compound terms. Here are two examples. 'Semana' ('week', It. 'settemana'), is short for 'siete mañanas' or 'seven mornings'. 'Como' ('how') derives from Latin 'quo modo', 'in which manner'. Many English-speaking students of Spanish struggle with 'ser' and 'estar', which both translate as 'to be' but which differ greatly in Spanish meaning. Their origins give a clue to meaning. 'Ser' derives from Latin 'esse', to be or have the ESSEnce of. 'Estar' derives from 'stare', to STAnd or be in a STAte. The latter is subject to change; the former is not.

Although many Spanish words can look and sound strikingly different from their Latin etymons, there are a number of well-understood processes that occurred as Spanish was developing from Latin. The Spanish word for miracle ('milagro' from Latin 'miraculum') illustrates four such processes.

1. Suffix/Collapse of the Latin neuter-- The neuter, singular suffix (-um) was changed to -o. Nearly all Latin nouns of the neuter declension(ending in -um) were collapsed into the Latin masculine declension (ending in -us) and were thus treated the same and had the same -o ending.

2. Voicing--The unvoiced -c- of Latin 'miraculum' became the voiced -g- of Spanish 'milagro.' This was a very frequent occurrence, especially when the originally unvoiced consonant appeared intervocalically (between two vowels).

3. Metathesis-- The two liquid consonants (l and r) in Latin 'miraculum' switch their order in the Spanish word 'milagro.' Although most consonants are subject to metathesis, it is more common when the switched consonants are alike (i.e. both liquid, both nasal)

4. Syncope (elision)-- The Spanish 'milagro' is a three-syllable word derived from a four-syllable word (miraculum). Vowels (in this case the -u- from the penultimate syllable of 'miraculum') are often elided for many reasons, some of which may be simplicity, euphony, or ease of articulation. This process is common in many languages, especially when transmission is primarily oral (as with Spanish) instead of written. Although there are many examples of syncope in Spanish, this development in western romance languages was fairly late and not as extensive as in eastern romance languages.