Spanish language
| Spanish | |
|---|---|
| Castilian | |
| |
| Pronunciation | [espaˈɲol] ⓘ [kasteˈʎano] ⓘ (pron. with yeísmo: [kasteˈʝano] ⓘ) |
| Native to | Spain, Hispanic America, Equatorial Guinea |
| Speakers | L1: 519 million (2025)[1] L2: 117 million (2025) Total: 636 million (2025) |
Early forms | |
| Latin script (Spanish alphabet) Spanish Braille | |
| Signed Spanish (using signs of the local language) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | |
| Regulated by | Association of Spanish Language Academies |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | es |
| ISO 639-2 | spa |
| ISO 639-3 | spa |
| Glottolog | stan1288 |
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-b |
 Official majority language
Co-official or administrative language but not majority native language
Secondary language (more than 20% Spanish speakers) or culturally important | |
Spanish (español) or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It originated in the Kingdom of Castile, a historical kingdom in north-central Spain.[4] Today, it is a global language with 519 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain, and about 636 million speakers total, including second-language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 21 countries, as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations.[5][6] Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese;[7][8] the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico.[9]
Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century,[10] and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile, in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas.[11]
As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. About 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek.[12] Alongside English and French, it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world.[13] Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences.[14] Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese[15] and the second most used language by number of websites after English.[16]
Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations, including the United Nations, European Union, Organization of Ibero-American States, Organization of American States, Union of South American Nations, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, African Union, and others.[5]
Name of the language and etymology
[edit]Name of the language
[edit]In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, Asturian, Catalan/Valencian, Aragonese, Occitan and other minor languages.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. 'the other Spanish languages'). Article III reads as follows:
El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...
The Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano.[17]
The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms—español and castellano—are regarded as synonymous and equally valid.[18]
Etymology
[edit]The term castellano is related to Castile (Castilla or archaically Castiella), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile, in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle').
In the Middle Ages, the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar.[19] Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano (romanz castellano, romanz de Castiella), lenguaje de Castiella, and ultimately simply as castellano (noun).[19]
Different etymologies have been suggested for the term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin *hispaniolus ('of Hispania').[20] Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula.
There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that the classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin, as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon).[citation needed]
