History of the Spanish language

Olden Day Spanish

Pre-16^th Century Spanish is referred to as Cat, referencing Castilian and 16^th – 17^th century Spanish is often called Classical Spanish.  The 16^th and 17^th centuries gave rise to what is now known as classical Spanish Literature, so the language as it was used at that time is called classic Spanish.  Modern Spanish is used to refer to the language as it came to be used in the 18^th Century.

Modern Day Spanish

Modern Spanish is derived from spoken Latin. The particular area from which it was developed is the Iberian Peninsula, what is now Northern Spain. Spanish has developed and expanded over the years.  It is now the official language in 21 countries and one of the six official languages of the United Nations.  Spanish is also called Castilian.

Modern Spanish has several grammatical differences from the Latin it was derived from.  Spanish has only three verb conjugations, while the original Latin has four.  The similarities can be seen when looking at the infinitive verb forms.  In Spanish, the infinitive endings are –ar, -er or –ir.  In Latin, the endings are –are, -ere or  -ire.  As Spanish has developed it has started to borrow words from other languages.  Modern Spanish has loanwords from Basque, Germanic, Arabic and American indigenous languages.

Spanish has several distinctions from other Romance languages. Romance languages are languages that are descended from Latin.  Latin was spoken by the Romans and so all languages that developed from Latin are called Romance Languages.  These include Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Occitan and Catalan.

One of the things that makes Spanish distinct from other Romance languages is the use of the accent mark.  Accent marks started to be used in the 15^th century and became very popular through the 17^th century.  In the 18^th century, accent mark use became standardized and accents are now a unique part of the Spanish Language.

Spanish was first in the 9^th century CE.  The first recorded written Spanish appeared in the late 10^th century.  A few words added to older manuscripts that were written in Latin are generally accepted as the first documented occurrence of written Spanish.  Written Spanish first started to become standardized in the 13^th century by King Alfonso X of Castile.  In the 15^th century, the first Spanish grammar book was released.  Over time the language was codified and has become what is considered modern Spanish.