There are two
names given to the
Spanish language: 'Spanish' (''español'') and 'Castilian' (''castellano''). Linguistically, ''Castilian'' means ''Spanish'', as it is the
medieval Spanish language of the
Kingdom of Castile that spread across
Spain and became the
national language known virtually always as ''Spanish'' in
English. But in Spanish itself, the term ''castellano'' is often used to refer to the language, at the expense of the term ''español'' (Spanish), and awareness of the term is growing in
French and to a lesser extent in English.
To understand how two terms can refer to the same language, imagine that the English language was sometimes called ''English'' after the historical nation whose language it is, but also sometimes ''British'' after the modern state, the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), of which it is the official language. To add to the complexity, former British colonies such as
British North America had to choose a name for the language, as did the speakers of
Welsh and other non-English languages in the United Kingdom. This resembles the situation with Spain and its historical centre,
Castile.
Spaniards tend to call the language ''español'' (Spanish) when contrasting it to languages of other states, such as in a list with
French (''francés''),
Chinese (''chino''), etc. ''Castellano'' (Castilian) by contrast, is more often used when contrasting the language with other
regional languages of Spain:
Aragonese,
Asturian,
Basque,
Catalan,
Galician, and so on. In this manner, the
Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term ''castellano'' to define the official language of the whole State, opposed 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 Language Academy used ''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.
Languages of Spain
Main articles: Languages of Spain
Monolingual regions of Spain
In monolingual regions of
Spain, the implications are a little different. There, inhabitants do not have anything to prove, but still they must choose one of the two terms.
Castilians usually use the term ''español'', thus legitimately presenting it as the
national language (the
Spanish constitution declares that all
Spaniards have ''the right to speak Castilian and the duty to know it''). However, they also frequently call it ''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. However, one must not forget that if
Castilian is spoken in these regions it is due to the
Reconquista, and thus it was not imposed as what happened in other regions such as the
Basque Country or
Catalonia, where it is frequently seen as a foreign language, but it was brought by the
ethnic Castilians through a natural process of repopulation.
Bilingual regions of Spain
In the bilingual regions where regional languages are spoken, there is obviously a daily need to make this contrast, and so the 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.) 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'' or Castilian is a political or cultural statement that Castilian 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, etc. This stance is common in regionalist circles.
Conversely, some nationalist circles prefer the term ''español'' because they perceive themselves as separate from Spain, and therefore do not mind the language of Spain being called Spanish. In Basque-speaking regions, where the language is not
romance — Basque is believed by many scholars to be a
language isolate — some Basque speakers might even use the term ''erdara''
[1] (lit. ''foreign'') specifically for Spanish, since for them it is the prevalent foreign language.
In the
French Basque Country, it is "French language" the most usual meaning of ''erdara''.
Regions of Spain with more than two languages
There are several regions in
Spain where more than two, and even more than three languages are spoken. Some of them, are:
★
Val d'Aran: its
official language is
Aranese, which is taught in
schools and used by public institutions. In addition, as
Val d'Aran is in
Catalonia,
Catalan is also used and taught in the
schools, along with
Castilian. In addition, due to the fact that the valley is next to the
French frontier,
French may also be spoken: in this case, we could also talk about a tetralingual zone.
★ The zone between
Galicia and
Portugal, where, in addition to
Galician and
Castilian,
Portuguese may also be spoken.
★ The transition zone between
Galicia and
Asturias, where, in addition to
Castilian,
Galician, and
Asturian other transition languages such as
Eonavian may be spoken.
★ The zone between
Extremadura and
Portugal, where, in addition to
Extremaduran,
Castilian and / or
La Fala,
Portuguese may also be spoken.
★ The zone between
Catalonia and
France, where, in addition to
Catalan and
Castilian,
French is also widely spoken. An unequivocal example of this, is the
Catalan exclave of
Llívia, in the southernmost of
France.
★ The
Spanish exclaves in North Africa of
Ceuta and
Melilla, where, in addition to
Castilian,
Moroccan Arabic is also widely spoken by the
muslim population, along with other Moroccan languages, such as
Berber.
The 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 ''¡hable 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
Both names are commonly used in parts of the world colonised by Spanish speakers, such as the Americas. As in Spain, the implications are complex. The most common term 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 word ''castellano'', especially in Argentina, Chile, and Peru. One reason for this is that many of the early Argentine settlers were Galicians
[2], so ''castellano'' had the special connotation of standard Spanish as opposed to Galician.. Reasons given generally include the idea that Spanish is an international language with historical origins in the old kingdom of Castile, and that the term ''español'' is imperialist, implying it is the language of Spain. One criticism of this reasoning is that Castile is the imperialist heart of Spain, and the engine that drove the colonization of the Americas, so ''castellano'' is just as 'bad' in these terms as ''español''. However, the fact that Spain is still a major nation-state, whereas Castile is now a region buried within Spain and internationally forgotten, is the deciding psychological factor.
In practice, the use of one term or the other tends to be a matter of local customs, rather than reflecting any philosophical or political ideas.
However, in some Latin American nations, ''castellano'' may be used to specifically describe the variation(s) of the language spoken in the ''castellano'' speaking regions of Spain, while ''español'' would general refer to
Standard Spanish.
Some constitutions avoid the issue by talking about "the national language".
''Castellano'' ('Castilian') is generally preferred in:
★
Argentina
★
El Salvador
★
Paraguay
★
Peru
★
Uruguay
★
Spain:
★
★
Principality of Asturias
★
★
Catalonia
★
★
Valencia
★
★
Balearic Islands
★
★
Galicia
★
★
Navarre
★
★
Basque Country
Alternation between both names
★
Colombia
★
Bolivia
★
Chile: The media uses the word ''español'' but schools teach ''castellano''.
★
Ecuador
★
Venezuela
''Español'' ('Spanish') is generally preferred in:
★
United States
★
Mexico
★
Central America
★
Cuba
★
Dominican Republic
★
Puerto Rico
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'', ''Castillian'' 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 favour of ''ca'', with the consequence that
Catalan then would have to be given ''ct''.
Another use of ''Castilian'' in English is to distinguish between standard Spanish and 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 odd 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.
Historical background to the various terms
History of the term 'Castilian'
Castile (in Spanish: ''Castilla'') means
Castle-land, from ''castiello'' plus the suffix ''-ia'', giving ''Castiella'', a form that survives in the
Astur-Leonese language and can be seen in mediaeval Castilian texts such as the
Lay of the Cid. Modern Spanish has transformed all words ending in ''-iello'', ''-iella'' into ''-illo'', ''-illa''. The adjective derived from ''Castilla'' is ''castellano'', or 'Castilian', in English. ''Castellano'' also means '
castellan', i.e. a castle master. There is a comic scene based on the play on words (Castilian/castellan) in
Don Quixote.
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 and the Christian kingdoms of
Navarre and
Aragon.
History of the term 'Spanish'
HISPANIA was the name given to the
Iberian Peninsula by the
Romans when they discovered and later subjugated it. The name was previously
Canaanite אי שפנים (''ʾî šəpānîm''), meaning 'coast of
hyraxes', named by Canaanite-speaking
Phoenicians who mistook Spain's large
rabbit population for hyraxes that roamed the Iberian Peninsula in
ancient times (although today, the Spanish population of wild rabbits is not quite as abundant as it was then due to the introduction of the
myxomatosis virus to mainland Europe in
1950.) The Romans called its inhabitants
HISPANI (singular:
HISPANVS), and the relevant adjective was
HISPANICVS. These terms would naturally have developed into ''España'', ''
★ espanos'' (singular: ''
★ espano'') and ''
★ espánego'' in Castilian. In reality, only the first term exists in modern Castilian, as it seems that the Spanish borrowed the
Occitan name for themselves, which was the name ''España'' plus the diminutive suffix ''-ol'', from the
Latin -VLVS or
-OLVS. We can see this because if the native Castilian suffix had been used this would have given us ''
★ españuelo'' rather than ''español''.
The term ''español'', which was adopted by several languages — and transformed according to their own phonology and grammar rules — to design the Spanish people and their language, is from medieval Latin ''Hispaniolus'' (literally, "little Hispanian"), a form that evolved later, by
hypercorrection, to the written form ''Spaniolus'' (note that, by that time, the Latin ''h'' had become silent, causing the word to be pronounced ), and the
prosthetic vowel [i] (used in spoken Latin for euphonic reasons) opened to [e], giving the present word.
[3]
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', derives from the Japanese word for Spain, スペイン (''Supein''), which, in turn, derives from English 'Spain'. In Chinese though, the word is directly taken from Spanish (or perhaps even Latin) rather than English: they say 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 (''isbaniya'') 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 "ny". إسباني (isbani) is the name for Spanish, with the same end of عربي ('arabi that means "arabic").
While ''Espanyol'' is used in
Tagalog and other
languages of the Philippines, the word ''Kastila'' is more frequently used. Furthermore ''Katsila'' (pronounced "Cachila") is also used among those who speak
Visayan languages like
Cebuano.
In
Guatemala, although Spanish is the official language, the
Mayans, 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 (Mam, Pocomam, cak'chikel, tzu'tuhil, kek'chi, ki'che, etc).
★ denotes an unattested or hypothetical form.
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 "
heathen"
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, is often felt as racist and insulting by inhabitants of the bilingual areas of Spain, such as
Catalonia,
Valencia,
Galicia and the
Basque Country, but not in the Americas.
History of the term 'Language of Cervantes'
Spanish is often referred to in educated circles as the 'Language of Cervantes' or ''lengua de Cervantes'', in reference to
Don Quixote author
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, a usage akin to that of
Shakespeare for English,
Dante for Italian, etc.
Other terms
Gonzalo de Berceo, one of the earlier authors in Castilian, named his language ''román paladino'' (i.e., "plain Romance") "in which a person talks to his neighbour", that is, direct talking, without affectation.
Notes
1. ''erdara'' in the Morris Student Plus Basque-English dictionary.
2. Another relic of this fact is the Argentine use of ''gallegos'' to mean recent immigrants from Spain, cf. the Australian use of ''pommy''.
3. Rafael Cano (coord.): ''Historia de la lengua española'', Ariel Lingüística, Barcelona, 2005.
See also
★
Iberian languages
★
Languages of Spain
★
Iberian Romance languages
External links
★
Detailed linguistic map of Spain
★
La lengua de Castilla ya tiene nombre: ¡Castellano y no Español!.
Castilian nationalist writing about the name of the language.
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