Old Spanish language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Old Spanish, or Old Castilian, is an early form of the Spanish language that was spoken from 10th Century until 15th Century, before the consonantic readjustment occurred and evolution into modern Spanish.
Contents |
[edit] Phonetics and phonology
The phonologic system of the Old Spanish shared similarities with the modern Romance languages. Amongst the consonants, there were three pairs of sibilants, voicelesses, and sonorants:
- Voiceless alveolar affricate (/ts/): represented by the phoneme ç
- Voiced alveolar affricate (/dz/): represented by the phoneme z
- Voiceless apicoalveolar fricative:represented by the s
- Voiced apicoalveolar fricative: represented by the phoneme z
- Voiceless postalveolar affricate: represented by the phoneme x (pronounced as the digraph sh)
- Voiced postalveolar affricate: represented by the phoneme j
In Old Spanish the voiceless velar fricative [x], corresponding to the letter j or g (before e and i), didn't exist, nor did the voiceless dental fricative that are actually written as the letter z and c (before e and i).
The letter v was pronounced as a fricative consonant. It is not known if it was bilabial or labiodental. The letter f represented its phonetic value but also represented an aspiration (as the English h) that later disappeared as a pronunciation, but it is now represented by an etymological h.
Examples:
- fasta (Modern Spanish: "hasta")
- fablar (Modern Spanish: "hablar")
- facer (Modern Spanish: "hacer")
[edit] Morphology and syntax
In Old Spanish the perfect tenses of the movement verbs, such as ir (to go) and venir (to come), were formed using the auxiliary verb "ser" (to be). Example: Las mugieres son llegadas a Castiella (Las mujeres han llegado a Castilla).
Possession was expressed by the auxiliary verb "aver" (haber). Example: Pedro dos fijas ha (Pedro tiene dos hijas).
In the present perfect tense, the past participle has to agree with the gender and number of the direct object. Example: María ha cantadas dos canciones (María ha cantado dos canciones).
Personal pronouns and substantives can be placed after the verb in any tense or mood (as in the verses from the Spanish epic poem Cantar de Mio Cid).
Generally, an unstressed pronoun and a verb in the simple sentences combined into one word. In a compound sentence, the pronoun was localized in the beginning of the clause. Example: la mánole va besar = la mano le va a besar (Le va a besar la mano).
| Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| acceptare, captare, effectus, respectus | acetar, catar, efeto, respeto | aceptar, captar, efecto, respecto y respeto |
| et, non, nos, hic | e, et; non, no; nós; í | y, e; no; nosotros; ahí |
| stabat; habui, habebat; facere, fecisti | estava; ove, avié; far/fer/fazer, feziste | estaba; hube, había; hacer, hiciste |
| hominem, mulier, infans | omne; mugier, muger; ifante | hombre, mujer, infante |
| cras, mane (maneana); nunquam | cras, man, mañana; nunqua | mañana, nunca |
| quando, quid, qui (quem), quo modo | quando, que, qui, commo/cuemo | cuando, que, quien, como |
[edit] Sample text
The following is a sample from Cantar de Mio Cid (verses 330-365). The first column contains the original Old Spanish text, and the second column is in modern Spanish.
|
|
