Names given to the Spanish language

For personal names in the Spanish language, see Spanish naming customs.

There are two names given in Spanish to the Spanish language: español ("Spanish") and castellano ("Castilian"). Spanish speakers from different countries or backgrounds can show a preference for one term or the other, or use them indiscriminately, but political issues or common usage might lead speakers to prefer one term over the other. This article identifies the differences between those terms, the countries or backgrounds that show a preference for one or the other, and the implications the choice of words might have for a native Spanish speaker.

Generally speaking, both terms can refer to the Spanish language as a whole, with a preference for one over the other that depends on the context or the speaker's origin. Castellano (as well as Castilian in English) has another, more restricted, meaning, relating either to the old Romance language spoken in the Kingdom of Castile in the Middle Ages, predecessor of the modern Spanish language, or to the variety of Spanish nowadays spoken in the historical region of Castile, in central Spain.

History of the terms

Originally Castilian (castellano) referred to the language of the Kingdom of Castile, one of several northern kingdoms that spread across the Iberian Peninsula through the Middle Ages, from about the 8th to the 15th centuries. Traditionally the first recorded examples of written Castilian/Spanish are considered to be the Glosas Emilianenses, a number of isolated words added to a Latin text as an aid to the reader, dated to the eleventh century. Soon after that there begin to appear discursive texts in Castilian, such as the Cantar de Mio Cid. This early Romance language was derived from Latin and evolved into modern Spanish.

However, the term Spanish (español) is a more recent term that first referred to Spain as a country, and then to the predominant language spoken in that country. Spain as a truly unified nation appeared centuries later than the language and the Kingdom of Castile; in fact, it was only in the late 15th century that the personal union between the Crowns of Castile and Aragon unified Spain. The actual legal unification date is disputed, but commonly agreed to have occurred not earlier than the eighteenth century. Only then did the Castilian language begin to be commonly called Spanish.

In 1492, the arrival of Christopher Columbus on a Castilian-paid expedition paved the way for the Spanish colonization of the Americas. As a result of this process, most countries in South America now speak the same language as Castile. Until about the eighteenth century, the Kingdom of Castile, and not Spain as a whole, was the colonizing power, and the language used was called castellano. Thus, some Latin American countries formerly under Spanish rule have retained the custom of calling it castellano, while others eventually switched to calling it español, with many different factors influencing the final choice.

In English, the term Spanish relates both to the language and to the nation. The noun used for a person from Spain is Spaniard, with the collective noun the Spanish. The term Castilian is much less widespread amongst English speakers than the term Spanish.

History of the term castellano

Castilla (Castile in English) means 'Castle-land'. The word is derived from Latin castella, the plural of castellum, which, in turn, is a diminutive form of castrum 'fortress, castle'. Through most of the Middle Ages the word was spelled Castiella, a form that survives in Leonese today. (Modern Spanish has transformed all words ending in -iello, -iella into -illo, -illa.) The adjective derived from Castilla is castellano. Castellano also means 'castellan', i.e. a castle master. There is a comic scene based on the play on words Castilian/castellan in the novel Don Quixote (Chapter 2).

The region was thus named because it was a frontier land controlled from a series of fortified castles. It shared borders with rival Moorish Spain (to the south) and the Christian kingdoms of Leon (to the west) and Navarre and Aragon (to the east).

History of the term español

Two main hypotheses have been proposed for the origin of the word español: one based on dissimilation in Old Spanish españón (from a presumed Vulgar Latin *hispaniōne), and the other on an Occitan term derived from a presumed Vulgar Latin *hispaniolus. Both Latin ancestor words are based on the place name Hispania (which evolved into España by regular sound changes); and both are marked with an asterisk to indicate that they are reconstructed, not directly attested.

The dissimilation hypothesis, advanced by Ramón Menéndez Pidal,[1] presumes that Latin Hispania was lengthened by the derivational suffix -ōne (which survives in other ethnonyms such as bretón, borgoñón, sajón, and lapón). The Old Spanish form españon is documented in works of the 13th and 14th centuries.[2] It is suggested that the final /n/ of this form changed to /l/ by dissimilation from the previous nasal consonant, ñ. This sporadic sound change is observed in some other words: Menéndez Pidal cites Barcelona (from Barcinone) and delante (from de in ante); Lathrop adds ingle (from ing[ui]ne) and sangre (from sang[ui]ne).[3]

According to the Occitan scenario, advanced by Rafael Lapesa,[4] the Spanish borrowed the Occitan name for themselves, which was the name España plus the diminutive suffix -ol, from the Latin -olus. The Occitan influence is inferred because in Castilian the same Latin suffix would have produced *españuelo rather than español. Lapesa counters the dissimilation hypothesis by citing other words with -ñón in which dissimilation did not take place: cañón, borgoñón, riñón, etc.[5] Penny, in discussing loans from French and Occitan, calls this "the most remarcable loan of all, español 'Spanish', replacing native españón."[6]

The name Hispania was applied to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans when they discovered and later subjugated it. One theory about this name is that it comes from Canaanite אי שפנים (ʾî šəpānîm), meaning 'island of hyraxes', named by Canaanite-speaking Phoenicians who mistook Spain's large rabbit population for hyraxes.[7] Several other theories about the name have been advanced as well (see Hispania).

The Romans called the inhabitants of Hispania hispani (singular: hispanus), and the relevant adjective was hispanicus. These terms, had they undergone regular sound change into Castilian, would have developed into España, *espanos (singular: *espano) and *espánego or *espango—but in reality, only the first term exists in modern Castilian.

As the branches of Vulgar Latin began to evolve into separate Romance languages, the term that would evolve into español began to be used to refer to these derivative languages (especially as opposed to the Arabic and Hebrew of the Moorish and Jewish inhabitants of Iberia). It was at first a general term that embraced the various dialects of Iberian Romance spoken in the area, including the forebears of modern Portuguese, Galician, Castilian and Catalan. However, with the rise of Castile as a power, and its absorption of all surrounding regions into an ever-growing empire that eventually spread to the New World, the term España was eventually equated with the peninsular territories ruled by the Crown. With this, the break with the Roman concept of Hispania was complete, and the term acquired its modern meaning of 'all of Iberia except for Portugal and Andorra'. Similarly, español came to be used to refer to the common language of this new country: Castilian.

The terms España and español spread to other languages. The English name Spain is from the French Espagne. Spanish is Spain plus the English suffix -ish. The term continues evolving as other languages adapt these words to form their own name for Spain—for example, Japanese スペイン語 (Supein-go), 'Spanish language', and スペイン人 (Supein-jin), 'Spaniard', derive from the Japanese word for Spain, スペイン (Supein), which, in turn, derives from English Spain. In Chinese, the word is taken directly from Spanish (or perhaps even Latin) rather than English: 西班牙 (Pinyin phonetic symbols: xībānyá) for Spain and 西班牙语 (Pinyin: xībānyá yǔ), or the abbreviation 西語 (Pinyin: xī yǔ) for the Spanish language. The Arabic إسبانية (isbāniya) for Spain derives directly from the word España: the absence of "p" in the Arabic alphabet makes it a "b", and the sound "ñ" is transformed into "n". إسباني (isbāni) is the name for Spanish, with the "nisba" suffix.

In Guatemala, although Spanish is the official language, the Maya peoples, descendants of the original inhabitants of the region, call it la castilla, keeping the original name from colonial times. Mayans speak at least 22 different Mayan languages and dialects, including Mam, Pocomam, Kaqchikel, Tz’utujil, Q’eqchi’, and K’iche’.

While Espanyol is used in Tagalog and other languages of the Philippines, the word Kastilà is more frequently used. Furthermore Katsila [sic] is also used among those who speak Visayan languages, such as Cebuano.

Usage of the term "cristiano" (Christian)

During the presence of Moors in Hispania, Spanish was sometimes given the name cristiano to distinguish it from the Arabic and Hebrew languages. Spanish also marked Christians from Amerindians. This term is still used today to refer to the language, though usually jocularly.

The expression Hábleme en cristiano "talk to me in Christian", uttered to people not speaking Spanish at the moment, is used in opposition of the other Spanish languages, which is felt as annoying by them (Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country, but not in America). "Háblame en cristiano" is also a phrase used for ask for clarification in a conversation, when the topic/point of the discussion is not clear or is vaguely (hesitantly) hinted by one of the speakers.

History of the term "language of Cervantes"

The term "lengua de Cervantes" as an epithet for the Spanish language begins to be used early in the 19th century. Mariano José de Larra uses the expression in his essay "Literatura", first published in 1823.[8] In 1829 it appears in Una cuestión de derecho, by Manuel Sivela.[9] Soon after that it appears in an anonymous article in the Gaceta de Madrid.[10] The poet Nicasio Camilo Jover, in his poem "Miguel de Cervantes", states directly "Y la lengua del pueblo castellano / Hoy se llama la lengua de Cervantes."[11] Spanish is called "el idioma de Cervantes" in a book published in 1830,[12] and in another one published in 1838.[13]

Occasionally the term refers to the language of Spanish Golden Age literature generally, rather than simply to that of Cervantes.[14]

"The language of Cervantes" in English—as a term for the Spanish language generally—comes into use in the 1840s. Examples appear in Janin (1841)[15] and Campbell (1849).[16]

History of the term "román paladino"

The term "román paladino" is normally employed by literature teachers or cultured individuals, but usually regarded as pedantic. It was coined by author Gonzalo de Berceo to refer to the language spoken by the common people, oppossed to Latin, in his verses "Quiero fer una prosa en román paladino, / en cual suele el pueblo fablar con so vezino; / ca non so tan letrado por fer otro latino. / Bien valdrá, como creo, un vaso de bon vino." ("I want to write prose in román paladino which the townsfolk speaks his neighbour in; but I'm not so learned to make another in Latin. It will be worth, I think, a cup of good wine.") back in the 13th century. It once meant any language or dialect derived from Latin spoken by the common people back then (Galician, Leonese, Castilian, Aragonese, Catalan, Valencianes...), but with the time has come to only be applied to Spanish. "Román" comes from "romance", name given to any vernacular language derived from latin, even those from outside Spain, (langue d'oc, langue de si, langue d'oui, italian dialects...), while "paladino" comes from "palatino" ("from the palace"), from latin palatinus, wich comes from palatium (palace) with influence from palam (openly). Due to this, the term is usually attached, rather than to the language as a whole, to a style of speaking that neither intends to follow the rigid norms of highbrow language (leaving aside grandiloquency) neither makes frequent use of cusswords, sweardwords and broken senteces of ghetto language, following the rule of "simple y llano" (simple and straightfordward).

Terms used by academies of the language

In Spain, the Royal Spanish Academy is recognized as a normative body that rules on the orthography and general usage rules of the language. The Academy used el castellano from the 18th century, but since 1923 its dictionary and grammar are de la lengua española ("of the Spanish language"). The Academy's usage of one term is not necessarily a condemnation of the other.

There are many other Academies (grouped under the Association of Spanish Language Academies) that may or may not have an official normative recognition, but nevertheless cooperate in the creation of the Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (a compendium of corrected typical mistakes and doubts). In this dictionary, whose production was agreed upon by the 22 different Spanish Language Academies, we are told:

Para designar la lengua común de España y de muchas naciones de América, y que también se habla como propia en otras partes del mundo, son válidos los términos castellano y español. La polémica sobre cuál de estas denominaciones resulta más apropiada está hoy superada. [...] Aun siendo sinónimo de español, resulta preferible reservar el término castellano para referirse al dialecto románico nacido en el Reino de Castilla durante la Edad Media, o al dialecto del español que se habla actualmente en esa región.


When naming the common language of Spain and of many nations of the Americas, which is also spoken as a first language in other parts of the world, the terms Castilian and Spanish are [both] valid. The debate over which of these designations is more appropriate is presently settled. [...] Although it is a synonym of Spanish, it is preferable to reserve the term Castilian to refer to the Romance language arising in the Kingdom of Castile during the Middle Ages, or to the dialect of Spanish currently spoken in that region.

Thus, even if both terms are allowed in Spanish, the use of el español is recommended for the language as a whole. However, popular choice of terms is not so clear, with other factors such as customs or geographical location being factors.

Usage in Spain

Spaniards tend to call the language el español (Spanish) when contrasting it to languages of other states, such as in a list with French (francés), Chinese (chino), etc. El castellano (Castilian) by contrast, is more often used when contrasting the language with other regional languages of Spain: official languages like Basque, Catalan and Galician or unofficial ones like Aragonese, Asturian, Extremaduran, Leonese and so on. In this manner, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term el castellano to define the official language of the whole State, opposed to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. the other Spanish languages). Article III reads in part:

El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. Todos los españoles tienen el deber de conocerla y el derecho a usarla. Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...

Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it. The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...

—Spanish Constitution of 1978

This choice of words can however vary depending on many factors, including the origin of the speaker or some political nuances.

Bilingual and multilingual regions of Spain

In the regions where regional languages are spoken, there is obviously a daily need to make the contrast between the national language and the regional language, and so the national language is most often referred to as Castilian, particularly in the regional languages themselves (e.g. espanyol is virtually never used to refer to the Spanish language in Catalan: castellà is used instead; in Basque, the name of the language is gaztelania or gaztelera, never espainiera; and in Galician, the most commonly used term is "castelán" rather than "español"). This usage is often mirrored by educated English speakers when referring to the linguistic situation in Spain.

For some, this use of the term castellano is a political or cultural statement that Spanish is only the language of Castile and perhaps some areas that Castile colonised, but not the language of their region, where they consider the only legitimate language to be the regional one, i.e. Catalan, Basque, Galician, etc. This stance is common in regionalist circles.

Conversely, some nationalist circles prefer the term español because they perceive their ethnic community to be distinct from that of Spain, and therefore do not object to the language of Spain being called Spanish. In Basque-speaking regions, where the language is not of Romance origin—Basque is considered by many scholars to be a language isolate—some Basque speakers also use the term erdara or erdera [17] (lit. foreign) specifically for Spanish, since for them it is the prevalent foreign language—just as in the French Basque Country, "French language" is the usual meaning of erdara; in fact, erdara is another language, different from Basque.

Monolingual regions of Spain

In monolingual regions, the implications are a little different. In these regions, there is no identity implication, but still they must choose one of the two terms. Castilians usually use the term el español, thus legitimately presenting it as the national language. However, they also frequently call it el castellano, either to assert their ownership or to distinguish it from the regional languages.

Monolingual regions outside of Castile include, mainly, Andalusia, but also other regions where the regional languages are not developed enough to be widely spoken by the majority of the population; this is the case of Extremadura, Cantabria or Aragon, for example. There, español may be used as in Castile to stress the national nature of the language, but with a slightly different nuance: they are accepting another region's historical language as their own.

Concept of a standard

The term castellano is occasionally used to imply more of a standard form than español does. For example, if someone mispronounces a word, they might be told ¡Habla castellano!, i.e. 'Speak Castilian!', 'Speak properly!'. However, this nuance is not to be exaggerated, as it is perfectly possible that the term español or even, jocularly, cristiano ('Christian') could be used instead. Moreover, the term castellano is also commonly and correctly used to refer to dialects of Spanish that deviate dramatically from the standard.

Usage and implications in former colonies

Geographic distribution of the preferential use of terms castellano (Castilian) vs. español (Spanish).

Both names are commonly used in parts of the world colonized by Spanish speakers, such as Latin America and the Canary Islands. As in Spain, the implications are complex. The most common term used in Latin America is español, generally considered to be a neutral term simply reflecting the country the language came from. For people who use this term, castellano may possibly imply greater correctness as it sometimes does in Spain, or it may merely be an alien term, referring to a region in a far-off country.

However, some Latin Americans prefer the term castellano, especially in Argentina, Chile, and Peru. One reason for this is that many early Argentine settlers were Galician,[18] for whom castellano had long been associated with the Spanish state in addition to Castile. Along with Basques or Catalonians, Galicians might perceive the term español as imperialistic and misrepresenting the language of Castile as the language of Spain.

Castellano may also be used to refer to the dialect of Spanish spoken in Castile while español would generally refer to Standard Spanish. In practice, usage tends to be a matter of local custom, rather than reflecting any philosophical or political position. However, the fact that Castile is now a region subsumed within modern Spain has been the decisive factor in the preferential usage of español in an international context.

Countries whose constitutions use the term castellano

Countries whose constitutions use the term español

Countries whose constitutions do not mention language

Terms used in the Philippines

Usage and misconceptions abroad

This complex linguistic situation is obviously not always grasped by non-Spanish speakers (or even by Spanish speakers themselves). Some believe that the term español is not used in Spanish, or only in Spain, and that the term Spanish is therefore wrong. So, it is not uncommon in some politically correct circles to write Castilian or even Castellano in English texts, calling Spanish incorrect or imperialist. This can even lead to their rejecting the official ISO 639 code for Spanish (es) in favor of ca, with the consequence that Catalan then would have to be given ct.

Some philologists use "Castilian" only when speaking of the language spoken in Castile during the Middle Ages, stating that it is preferable to use "Spanish" for its modern form. The dialect of Spanish spoken in northern parts of modern Castile may also be called "Castilian." This dialect differs from those of other regions of Spain (Andalusia for example); the Castilian dialect is conventionally considered in Spain to be the same as standard Spanish.

Another use of Castilian in English is to distinguish between standard Spanish and regional dialects. As noted above, this distinction is made to some extent in Spanish, but not as far as some English speakers go—for example, websites with language selection screens giving the choice between Castilian Spanish and Latin American Spanish among other languages.

In the Americas, where Spanish is the native language of 20 countries, usage of castellano and español is sometimes reversed when referring to another nation. For example, a Peruvian, talking about a Uruguayan, might say Yo hablo en español peruano, él habla en español uruguayo, pero los dos hablamos castellano ("I speak Peruvian Spanish, he speaks Uruguayan Spanish, but we both speak Castilian"). This usage comes from the historical association of español with the language that was brought to America by conquistadores, and later transformed in each nation through daily usage, and castellano as the basis for all variants.

Other terms

Gonzalo de Berceo, one of the earlier authors in Castilian, named his language román paladino (i.e., "palace Romance") "in which a person talks to his neighbor", that is, direct talking, without affectation, in the most clear way someone can express (as good as in the palace or court).[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?ei=dnFLUb3eOOmW0QGR6IHQAQ&id=l1ZdAAAAMAAJ&dq=menendez+pidal+manual&q=espa%C3%B1%C3%B3n#search_anchor Manual de gramática histórica española] (1904/1980), p. 181 (§66.2).
  2. ↑ For example the Poema de Fernán González and the Libro del cauallero Zifar.
  3. ↑ Thomas A. Lathrop, The Evolution of Spanish (Newark, Del.: Juan de la Cuesta), p. 97.
  4. ↑ Historia de la lengua española (Madrid: Gredos, 1981), p. 199 (§51.3).
  5. ↑ P. 200, note 8.
  6. ↑ Ralph Penny, A History of the Spanish Language (Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 225.
  7. ↑ Today the Spanish population of wild rabbits is much less abundant than in ancient times, due to the introduction of the myxomatosis virus to mainland Europe in the 1950s.
  8. ↑ Obras completas, Vol. 4 (Madrid: José M. Repullés, 1837), p. 66.
  9. ↑ Paris: Gaultier-Laguionie, p. 185.
  10. ↑ "De las traducciones", No. 64 (May 29, 1832), p. 264.
  11. ↑ Glorias de España: Poesías históricas (Madrid: D.F.A. Fernel, 1848), p. 227
  12. ↑ Rafael Díaz Arenas, Memorias históricas y estadísticas de Filipinas y particularmente de la grande isla de Luzón (Manila: Diario de Manila
  13. ↑ "El Tío Cigüeña" (pseud. of Juan Mieg), Cuatro palabras á los señores traductores y editores de novelas (Madrid: Hijos de Doña Catalina Piñuela), p. 67.
  14. ↑ For example Héctor M. Ardila A. and Inés Vizcaíno G., Hombres y mujeres en las letras colombianas (Bogotá: Magisterio, 2008), p. 14: "La lengua clásica, la lengua de Cervantes y Fray Luis de León".
  15. ↑ Jules Janin, "Biographical Notice of Le Sage", in Asmodeus: Or, the Devil on Two Sticks by Alain René Le Sage (London: Joseph Thomas, 1841), p. xi.
  16. ↑ Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, ed. William Beattie (London: Edward Moxon, 1849), Vol. 2, p. 149.
  17. ↑ erdara in the Morris Student Plus Basque-English dictionary.
  18. ↑ Another relic of this fact is the Argentine use of gallegos to mean recent immigrants from Spain, cf. the Australian use of pommy.
  19. ↑ La Constitución española de 1978
  20. ↑ The Spanish Constitution (1978). BOE.
  21. ↑ La Vanguardia, Nov 8 2012: "En roman paladino"

External links