History UsefulNotes / SpanishLanguage

On ''vosotros'' and ''ustedes'' (the plural 2nd person pronouns) meanwhile, ''vosotros'' is used '''only''' in Spain, and following the same rule of thumb as with ''tú'' and ''usted'' (as in ''vosotros'' in casual speech and ''ustedes'' in formal speech). If you use it in Latin America, at best it sounds like "tally-ho, guvnah!" in the United States, but most likely it will usually sound like saying [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe "thou haveth a good morrow?"]] in Modern English. You can get away with it as a nonnative speaker, but try to stick to ''ustedes'' even if you're in full-blown ''ceceo'' mode (more on that later as well). Also in Spain itself people will always understand you (although it may sound a little weird to them if you manage to make friends with them) so it's a safe bet.

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article settling on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o".[[note]]Technically, these are all descended from variations of the Classical Latin ''ille'' "that/that one". (Even the Portuguese "o", from a different inflection.) The French ''le'' has the same derivation. From ''ille'', ''el'' is not especially weird as a derivation; rather, the theory is that the influence of Arabic might have created a glide path for settling on ''el'' rather than some hypothetical alternative form. (''Lo'' would suggest itself in Spanish. For one thing, it's directly cognate to the Portuguese "o". But the main thing is that ''lo'' actually is used in Spanish, just as the pronoun for the masculine singular direct object. This doesn't mean much on its own, but the feminine equivalent of ''el'' is ''la'', which itself is also used as the pronoun for the feminine singular direct object. The irregularity of ''el'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as the definite article but ''lo'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as a pronoun is a bit weird for Spanish, which (1) is by far the most regular of the major Romance languages (itself possibly the result of Arabic influence, since Arabic is rigidly regular in its verb forms--Arabic nouns are another story but "irregular nouns" are not a thing in Romance) and (2) prefers to have feminine equivalents be the masculine either with a masculine ending substituted with "a" or with an "a" appended. Hence the "Arabic influenced it" theory.)[[/note]] Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article settling on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o".[[note]]Technically, these are all descended from variations of the Classical Latin ''ille'' "that/that one". (Even the Portuguese "o", from a different inflection.) The French ''le'' has the same derivation. From ''ille'', ''el'' is not especially weird as a derivation; rather, the theory is that the influence of Arabic might have created a glide path for settling on ''el'' rather than some hypothetical alternative form. (''Lo'' would suggest itself in Spanish. For one thing, it's directly cognate to the Portuguese "o". But the main thing is that ''lo'' actually is used in Spanish, just as the pronoun for the masculine singular direct object. This doesn't mean much on its own, but the feminine equivalent of ''el'' is ''la'', which itself is also used as the pronoun for the feminine singular direct object. The irregularity of ''el'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as the definite article but ''lo'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as a pronoun is a bit weird for Spanish, which (1) is by far the most regular of the major Romance languages (itself possibly the result of Arabic influence, since Arabic is rigidly regular in its verb forms--nouns are another story but "irregular nouns" are not a thing in Romance) and (2) prefers to have feminine equivalents be the masculine either with a masculine ending substituted with "a" or with an "a" appended. Hence the "Arabic influenced it" theory.)[[/note]] Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article settling on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o".[[note]]Technically, these are all descended from variations of the Classical Latin ''ille'' "that/that one". (Even the Portuguese "o", from a different inflection.) The French ''le'' has the same derivation. From ''ille'', ''el'' is not especially weird as a derivation; rather, the theory is that the influence of Arabic might have created a glide path for settling on ''el'' rather than some hypothetical alternative form. (''Lo'' would suggest itself in Spanish. For one thing, it's directly cognate to the Portuguese "o". But the main thing is that ''lo'' actually is used in Spanish, just as the pronoun for the masculine singular direct object. This doesn't mean much on its own, but the feminine equivalent of ''el'' is ''la'', which itself is also used as the pronoun for the feminine singular direct object. The irregularity of ''el'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as the definite article but ''lo'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as a pronoun is a bit weird for Spanish, which generally prefers to have feminine equivalents be the masculine either with a masculine ending substituted with "a" or with an "a" appended. Hence the "Arabic influenced it" theory.)[[/note]] Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article settling on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o".[[note]]Technically, these are all descended from variations of the Classical Latin ''ille'' "that/that one". (Even the Portuguese "o", from a different inflection.) The French ''le'' has the same derivation. From ''ille'', ''el'' is not especially weird as a derivation; rather, the theory is that the influence of Arabic might have created a glide path for settling on ''el'' rather than some hypothetical alternative form. (''Lo'' would suggest itself in Spanish. For one thing, it's directly cognate to the Portuguese "o". But the main thing is that ''lo'' actually is used in Spanish, just as the pronoun for the masculine singular direct object. This doesn't mean much on its own, but the feminine equivalent of ''el'' is ''la'', which itself is also used as the pronoun for the feminine singular direct object. The irregularity of ''el'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as the definite article but ''lo'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as a pronoun is a bit weird fr Spanish, hence the "Arabic influenced it" theory.)[[/note]] Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article settling on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o".[[note]]Technically, these are all descended from variations of the Classical Latin ''ille'' "that/that one". (Even the Portuguese "o", from a different inflection.) The French ''le'' has the same derivation. From ''ille'', ''el'' is not especially weird as a derivation; rather, the theory is that the influence of Arabic might have created a glide path for settling on ''el'' rather than some hypothetical alternative form. (''Lo'' would suggest itself in Spanish. For one thing, it's directly cognate to the Portuguese "o". But the main thing is actually is used in Spanish, just as the pronoun for the masculine singular direct object. This doesn't mean much on its own, but the feminine equivalent of ''el'' is ''la'', which itself is also used as the pronoun for the feminine singular direct object. The irregularity of ''el'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as the definite article but ''lo'' as the equivalent for ''la'' as a pronoun is a bit weird fr Spanish, hence the "Arabic influenced it" theory.[[/note]] Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article settling on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o". Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. The same Arabic "al" ''might'' also have influenced the pronunciation of the Spanish masculine definite article on "el" rather than something closer to its Italian cognate ''il'' or something completely different like the Portuguese "o". Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here. Arabic also bequeathed to Spanish (and Portuguese) its placeholder name for a person—Arabic ''fulān(ah)'' became Spanish ''Fulano/a'', "John (Jane) Doe" (or Joe Bloggs or Joe Schmoe or Johnny Q. Public or…).\\

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here.\\

Truly offensive peninsular profanity relies a lot on creativity and especially blasphemy. Spain is a country with deep Catholic roots, but in the last centuries it evolved gradually into its direct opposite, and nowadays it keeps instead a heartfelt disdain for Christianity and religion in general (another consequence of the Franco regime, though the attitude was already present in the times of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition and several Church-sponsored absolute monarchies). As a consequence, there is a ton of swearing based on religious imagery, a bit like the Québecois. ''Hostias'', or "host" (as in sacrament) is somewhat more offensive than "joder", while ''Me cago en Dios y las tetas de la Virgen'' (I shit upon God and the Virgin's tits) means you probably just amputated something.

* ''Pinche'' (lit. "kitchen helper"): its original meaning is still maintained in Spain, but in Mexico this word has evolved into an interjection to emphasize something, similar to "fucking" in English: "una pinche cerveza" means "a fucking beer".

After ''Los Reyes Cathólicos'' completed the ''Reconquista'', the next major influence on Spanish (and from this point on it's purely vocabulary) is from its colonies. The strongest impact is probably from the Classical Nahuatl language of Mexico, whose names for various New World items generally became the "standard" (see, e.g. the worldwide acceptance of Nahuatl-derived ''chile'' (originally ''chīlli'' in Classical Nahuatl) over the Taíno-derived South American and Caribbean Spanish term ''ají'' for hot peppers, unless we're specifically talking about South American/Caribbean peppers).\\

!!Those who write the rules: La Real Academia Española

As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for "cheese," "head," and "beer," which were ''cāsus'' (native Latin word) and ''caput'' (ditto), and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Similarly, Italian ''testa'' and French ''tête'' for "head" both derive from the Classical Latin ''testa'', meaning "pot", which Imperial-era slang apparently repurposed to mean "head";[[note]]The Ancient Romans were truly the New Yorkers of their era. "Hey, Marius, don't bang your pot on the wall, we can fix this!"[[/note]] the more conservative Spanish dialect seems to have preserved ''caput'', which eventually became ''cabeza'' in modern Spanish. Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.\\

The modern Spanish language is a Romance language, one of the large family of languages descending from the [[UsefulNotes/LatinLanguage Vulgar Latin]] spoken by the common people of much of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages of Iberia--including Spanish, but also Portuguese, Catalan, and regional languages like Galician and Asturian--are interesting because they descend from a peculiarly conservative dialect of Vulgar Latin. Spain was one of the first regions the Romans conquered outside what is now Italy, having taken it during the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Republican era]] from the Carthaginians during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars. As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for "cheese," "head," and "beer," which were ''cāsus'' (native Latin word) and ''caput'' (ditto), and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Similarly, Italian ''testa'' and French ''tête'' for "head" both derive from the Classical Latin ''testa'', meaning "pot", which Imperial-era slang apparently repurposed to mean "head";[[note]]The Ancient Romans were truly the New Yorkers of their era. "Hey, Marius, don't bang your pot on the wall, we can fix this!"[[/note]] the more conservative Spanish dialect seems to have preserved ''caput'', which eventually became ''cabeza'' in modern Spanish. Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.\\

The modern Spanish language is a Romance language, one of the large family of languages descending from the [[UsefulNotes/LatinLanguage Vulgar Latin]] spoken by the common people of much of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages of Iberia--including Spanish, but also Portuguese, Catalan, and regional languages like Galician and Asturian--are interesting because they descend from a peculiarly conservative dialect of Vulgar Latin. Spain was one of the first regions the Romans conquered outside what is now Italy, having taken it during the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Republican era]] from the Carthaginians during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars. As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for "cheese," "head," and "beer," which were ''cāsus'' (native Latin word) and ''caput'' (ditto), and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Similarly, Italian ''testa'' and French ''tête'' for "head" both derive from the Classical Latin ''testa'', meaning "pot", which Imperial-era slang apparently repurposed to mean "head";[[note]]The Ancient Romans were truly the New Yorkers of their era. "Hey, Marius, don't bang your pot on the wall, we can fix this!"[[/note]] the more conservative Spanish dialect seems to have preserved ''caput'', which eventually became ''cabeza'' in modern Spanish. Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.

That said, Spanish isn't completely devoid of Germanic influences. The Visigoths ruled the peninsula for about 200 years and left their mark on the language. Their biggest influence is in personal names (for instance, the quintessentially Spanish masculine name Álvaro seems to be a Gothic name), but it also seems to have added a few vocabulary items (e.g. ''ganso'' for goose--the Latin word was ''anser'', the Gothic was ''gans'' as in modern Dutch and German). Also in the post-Roman period it seems that the Basque language started having an effect on the Romance dialects of north-central Iberia, mainly in phonology; the shift from word-initial ''f'' to ''h'' (e.g. ''fablar''->''hablar'' "to speak") seems to have been Basque influence.

The next big influence on Spanish was [[UsefulNotes/ArabicLanguage Arabic]]. Between 711 and 718 CE, the Moors--a mix of Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Muslims from North Africa--conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. They famously left a lot of vocabulary starting with ''a'' (e.g. ''aceite'', oil, from the Arabic ''az-zayt'', "the oil") or ''al'' (e.g. ''alberca'', a pool or pond, from the Arabic ''al-birka'' "the pond/pool"). The "a/al" thing is derived from the Arabic ''al-'', the Arabic word for "the"; the reason for the variation, and why the Spanish-speakers included the definite article, is too complicated to discuss here.

After ''Los Reyes Cathólicos'' completed the ''Reconquista'', the next major influence on Spanish (and from this point on it's purely vocabulary) is from its colonies. The strongest impact is probably from the Classical Nahuatl language of Mexico, whose names for various New World items generally became the "standard" (see, e.g. the worldwide acceptance of Nahuatl-derived ''chile'' (originally ''chīlli'' in Classical Nahuatl) over the Taíno-derived South American and Caribbean Spanish term ''ají'' for hot peppers, unless we're specifically talking about South American/Caribbean peppers).

[[VulgarHumor Overtly agressive or profane]] swearing ([[UpToEleven even moreso than these latter examples]]) is possible, but rare and mostly used in derivative works for comedic effect, such as "Te voy a sacar los putos ojos y me voy a mear en los agujeros para que te escueza"[[labelnote:*]]"I'm going to gouge your fucking eyes out and piss in the holes till it burns[[/labelnote]]. Spaniard are perceived as more profane than Latin Americans, not because this is fundamentally true, but because there is more swearing on Spanish TV (sometimes even on family-oriented shows on occassion), while most Latin American countries [[MoralGuardians enforce cleaner language]] on media to very ridiculous extremes (where even GoshDangItToHeck can be considered too much).

Spanish, also known as "Castilian"[[note]]This is the actual original name of the language. The country we know today as Spain was formed in the late 15th century, when Castile and Aragon, the two main Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, finished the [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain Reconquista]] and expelled the Muslims that had occupied it for 800 years. Both kingdoms were united thanks to the marriage of their respective monarchs, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. Castilian was, obviously enough, the language from Castile, which eventually became the dominant language of the territory, and the one that was exported to the American colonies. "Castilian Spanish", or just "Castilian", are very common terms to refer to the Spanish language as it's spoken in Spain, specifically[[/note]], is an Ibero-Romance language, and the second most natively spoken language in the entire world (after Mandarin Chinese) due to the enormous expanse of the Spanish Empire in its heyday. It's the national or official language of 21 countries, as well as one of the official languages of the UN and 13 other international organizations. Even in the United States alone there are over 50 million Spanish-speakers, which is more than the entire population of most Spanish-speaking countries, Spain itself included[[note]]And if you look below, there's even a native dialect of Spanish in New Mexico and Colorado![[/note]]. In short, this is a '''big''' language. It's the most widely spoken language in the Western Hemisphere.

!! An exceedingly brief history

!!Noun

!!Pronouns

!!Verbs

!!Spelling, Sounds, and the Like

!!No molestar - False Friends, Swear Words, and Other Things

* ''Mierda'' = Shit (chances are you already knew this one). In Spain can also translate as "Damn!" as an interjection.
* ''Cojones''[[labelnote:*]]Not "cajones", although non-native speakers sometimes confuse the two. Saying that someone has a lot of cajones means that they have a lot of drawers.[[/labelnote]]= Spain only. The more profane word for balls, the usual, milder ones being ''huevos'' (which is also the word for eggs) and ''pelotas'' (which actually means "balls"). Quite a few expresions arise from this one: the verb ''acojonar(se)'' means "to (get) scare(d)" and is generally used to remark how much of a coward the guy who got scared is (it's in fact a deformation of ''acongojar(se)'' due to phonetic similarities, but the original verb is now only used in formal situations, by extremely polite people or people with extreme aversion to curse words). ''Cojonudo'' roughly translates to "fucking good". The expression ''tocar los cojones'' (literally "touching the balls") can either mean "to be a lazy fuck" or "to piss someone off" depending on whether the metaforical balls belong to the person touching them or not. Calling someone a ''mosca cojonera'' ("balls-y fly") implies that they are as annoying as, well, having a fly in the balls.
* ''Carajo'' = An interjection roughly equivalent to damn, fuck, or in some cases hell ("vete al carajo" can be half-literally translated as "go to hell"). In Venezuela, along with the interjection use, is also used as a sightly more vulgar equivalent of "dude", even having a female and a diminutive version to refer to women and small children. "Estar del carajo", however, means that something/someone is doing very well. May or may not also mean dick in some places.

* ''Cabrón'' = "big goat", but meaning "cuckold", equates to asshole, fucker or bastard. Can be used casually among friends, but absolutely not with strangers.
* ''Capullo'' = "cocoon" or "flower bud", and (amusingly enough) slang for "prepuce" or "foreskin". In Spain, it's a tamer synonym for "Cabrón", although "¡Eres un capullo!" would more accurately translate to "You're a dick!".
* ''Pendejo'' = "pubic hair", roughly idiot or jackass, with an added connotation of willful incompetence. Almost exclusive to Latin America, with Spaniards only using it whenever they want to invoke Latin stereotypes. It's a derogative word for a young person in Chile and Argentina, and for a particularly dumb or mean person in Mexico. There was a scandal in Venezuela when the late politician and intelectual Arturo Uslar Pietri used the word on a TV interview in 1989 to refer to honest everymen, not because the meaning but because at the time the word was considered too strong for broadcasting (while in real life it is relatively mild).
* ''Joder'' = "fuck" (used rather like it is in English; ''estamos jodidos'' means "we're fucked."). Almost never conjugated in anything but past participle (The expletive "fuck!" would simply be ''joder!'' and "That fucking test" would be ''Ese jodido examen'', although most would say ''puto'' or something similar instead). "Fuck you!" would be translated as ''¡Jódete!'' or ''¡Que te jodan!''. It is also a vulgar word for ''bother'' (compare "fuck with"). Almost parodically Spanish--it is used in Latin America occasionally, but usually it's associated with Spaniards.
* ''Chingar'' = "fuck". Almost an exact synonym for joder. It is used most often in Mexico, whereas joder is practically a comma for the Spanish. ("Chingón" is a particularly sterotypically Mexiacan term that means, roughly "fucker", but frequently admiringly, the way a crochety old man from [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey Newark]] might say it--"A Mario, ¿como está el viejo chingón?" translates roughly to "Whaddabout Mario, how is the old fucker?").
* ''Follar'' = synonym for "fuck" as a verb, although only when it refers to the specific biological act of intercourse. Extremely vulgar, it is not usually heard outside of Spain, since most swear-worthy situations are covered by ''joder'' or ''chingar''. ''"¡Que te follen!"'' would be an alternative translation for "Fuck you!".
* ''¿Qué diablos?'' or ''¿Qué demonios?'' = What the hell? (Lit. "What devils?" or "What demons?"). It's an archaic expression that became GoshDangItToHeck over time, so it is pretty unusual to hear today. A related word that is even more archaic is "demontre", also vaguely meaning demon. All of them can also be used as an interjection ("¡demonios!" = roughly "holy shit!").
* ''Maldito/a'' = (God)damn (again, rather used like in English; can be either an interjection or adjective). Very unlike the English equivalent, this word and its religious relatives (like "infierno", meaning literally "hell"; "vete al infierno" = "go to hell") are actually considered pretty tame in Spanish, almost to the point of GoshDangItToHeck. In fact, they are soft enough to be used in television for the youth slot in Spain and most Latin American countries. However, although not archaic like the previous, they still carry a certain old-fashioned vibe that makes them rare to hear in the street.
* ''Maldición'' = Literally "malediction" or "curse", but more commonly translated as "damnit" or similar. Also soft enough for TV.
* ''Malparido/a'' = Something like saying the person wasn't born right or in the right way. Similar in the usage to the English word "Bastard". Somewhat archaic, it is quite uncommon in modern Spain out of country/rural context.
* ''Malnacido'' = same as before, but a bit more common nowadays in Spain. Still old-fashioned, though.
* ''Tomar'' = Latin American slang for drinking spirit; literally, "take" (Spain just says ''beber'', i.e. "drink"; it has its own slang words for it, but they are not as popular). Completely innocuous for most situations, such as photography (tomar unas fotos). An important exception would be taking a person to a place, for which the verb "llevar" is used. "Tomé a mi hermana al prom", for example, means you and your sister have some explaining to do.
* ''Puto/a'' = The female form "puta" means "whore", or more generally "bitch"; "hijo de puta" equates to "son of a bitch." Beware of this in Spain, since it's the worst insult you can say to a person (one of the six traditional ''palabras mayores'', or "major words", the only one directed against females, although only married, and one of the four that's still in use now). The male form "puto", on the other hand, is a very offensive word for "gay" (think "faggot") when applied to people, and something more akin to "goddamned" when applied to objects or situations. Also, as mentioned above, "puto/a" can be used as an equivalent to "fucking" ("el puto coche" = "the fucking car"). It is considered substantially milder in this form.
* ''Coger'' = Literally "get or take" but has evolved into "fuck" in most Latin American countries. In Spain, however, it has maintained the literal meaning and is an incredibly common word, which sometimes can cause misunderstandings between Spaniards and Latin Americans. For instance: ''cogí una magdalena'' means "I took a muffin" in Spain, but "I fucked a muffin" in Latin America. ''Recoger'' is the non-profane version (which in Spain means something similar to "pick up").
* ''Cagar'' = The verb form of "shit". Often used to construct colorful oaths like ''¡Me cago en la leche!'' ("I shit in the milk!"), ''¡Me cago en la puta!'' ("I shit in the bitch!"), or even more colorful (only in Spain, and not commonly used), ''¡Me cago en la puta de oros!'' (which is a reference to Spanish playing cards, and when adapted to English cards, it would be something like "I shit in the Jack of Diamonds!"). ''Mecagüen!'' and ''Me cahis en la mar!'' are the GoshDangItToHeck versions of this. If you want to use these oaths to insult a person in particular, you can use ''me cago en la cara de tu padre!'' ("I shit in your father's face!" - very uncommon today, but still effective), ''me cago en tu puta madre!'' (I shit in your fucking mother!") or ''me cago en todos tus muertos!'' ("I shit in all of your dead relatives!"). ''Cagada'' means "shitty" or "full of shit". In some Latin American countries also a slang word for "reprimand", ex: "''El profe me cagó por lo del comedor''" meaning "The teacher reprimanded me for the cafeteria incident". In Spain, a ''cagada'' is something embarrassing, normally used to describe something someone has said with the intention of being funny (but isn't). This is different from "''cagarse en alguien''" which literally means "to shit on someone" and which basically means to insult somebody with all you've got, and also from "''cagarse''" which is slang for being scared in some countries. ''Me cago en Dios'' ("I shit on God") is still heard in certain areas of Spain, even by religious people, but it's better not to say it if you're in front of someone who is really religious and might get seriously offended.
* ''Coño'' = CountryMatters. It is not nearly as offensive as that word is in English (ESPECIALLY in North America), and in fact it is often as an interjection, as in "fuck!"; "¿Qué coño ___?" equates to "What the fuck ___?" in peninsular Spanish (see note below on profanity in Spain). Saying that a person is "un coño de madre/un coño de su madre" means not that they're ''that'' part of their mother anatomy, but that the person is a bastard, and the expression "¡El coño de tu madre!" ''is'' a direct insult, in some places being even worse than calling the person "hijo de puta". There is also the derivate word "coñazo", that in Spain means something among bothersome or annoying (as in "esa persona es un coñazo", that person is very annoying) but in Venezuela means "beating" (te voy a meter un coñazo = I'm going to hit you hard). Nowadays, Spain is the only country that still uses the word on its original sexual context: the rest of the Spanish speaking countries simply see it as another vulgar interjection.
* ''Culo'' = Ass, used in pretty much the same situations as in English and then some more. ''De mi culo'' is "my ass" in some Latin American countries. In those, a father of a teenage daughter, when she says where she goes with her date, may say ''"'Vamos al cine' de mi culo."'' ("'We're going to the movies' my ass."). In Spain it's also used in the construction "de culo" for "screwed"; ''"Vamos de culo"'' means "We're screwed." Venezuelan males also use the term to refer to a one-night stand or someone they have a superficial sex-based relationship (but never saying it in front of the person); "ese un culo que me levanté anoche" means "a girl I picked up last night".
* ''Pajero'' = Wanker/douchebag/jackoff. Mitsubishi fortunately avoided [[BiteTheWaxTadpole biting the wax tadpole]] on this one and sold their model as "Montero" (mountaineer) in Spanish speaking countries. In Chile it's also a pejorative term for a lazy and/or slow person: "Apúrate, pajero!" would mean "Hurry up, stupid slouch!"
* ''Polla'' = Literally it would mean female chick, but it is used as a very vulgar synonym of "dick" and should never be used for anything else unless you want to risk ofending someone (at least in Spain). ''¡Chupame la polla!'' means "Suck my dick!"
* ''Gilipollas'' = One of the most common insults in Spain, and nowhere else. It doesn't have a literal translation, though the "-pollas" at the end comes from where you think it comes from. It would be a rough equivalent to "dumbass", although its usage is somewhat more offensive, akin to "asshole". This word also has a tamer UnusualEuphemism version in "gilipuertas", which subtitutes "pollas" ("dicks") with "puertas" ("doors"). In Catalonia (North East of Spain) it's also used the short form ''"Gilí"'', which is considered a kinda "softer" version of the word. Said shorter version may be the origin of the even shorter ''"Gil"'', which is used in Argentina to mean "dumbass".
* ''Arrecho'': Unused in Spain, it means horny in some other countries. In Venezuela and Colombia in particular, however, it means "furious" when applied to people, and "spectacular" when applied to objects (to wit. "Estoy arrecho": I'm furious, "Soy arrecho": I'm awesome).
* ''Pinche'': Originally used to refer to a kitchen helper, which is still maintained in Spain, in Mexico this word has evolved into an interjection to emphasize something, similar to "fucking" in English: "una pinche cerveza" means "a fucking beer".
* ''Güey'': A Mexican corruption of ''buey'', which means "ox", in reference of being dumb like an ox. Being "güey" means being dumb, incompetent or ignorant; "hacerse güey" means pretending to not know about something. Also used in Mexico as a pronoun or an interjection, in which case it's usually slurred into "wey": "me voy con este wey" means "I'm going with this guy", and "¡AY WEY!" means "HOLY SHIT!". A common use is "Este güey..." (which can be pronounced slurred or unslurred, as you wish), which means, roughly, "''this'' motherfucker..." and is usually accompanied with an eyeroll. This word was popularized by standup comedian and entertainer Adal Ramones, who found out that this word was not blacklisted by official censorship rules, and as a result proceeded to abuse the hell out of it during his TV performances.
* ''Verga'': "Dick" in Mexico, Venezuela and Spain (though increasingly rare to hear in the last). When this word is inappropriate, some radar-safe alternatives include "vaina" (common in Venezuela, known but less common in Mexico), "vértebra", "verdura" (vegetable), "Bergen" (German for "mountains") and "versh" (cf. Youtube animated comedy channel [[https://www.youtube.com/user/vetealaversha Vete a la Versh]]).

!!Judaeo-Spanish

''Haketia'' is said to have influenced ''Llanito'', the peculiar coloquial form of Spanish spoken in Gibraltar, due to migration by Morrocan Jews.

The modern Spanish language is a Romance language, one of the large family of languages descending from the [[UsefulNotes/LatinLanguage Vulgar Latin]] spoken by the common people of much of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages of Iberia--including Spanish, but also Portuguese, Catalan, and regional languages like Galician and Asturian--are interesting because they descend from a peculiarly conservative dialect of Vulgar Latin. Spain was one of the first regions the Romans conquered outside what is now Italy, having taken it during the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Republican era]] from the Carthaginians during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars. As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for "cheese," "head," and "beer," which were ''cāsus'' (native Latin word) and ''caput'' (ditto), and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Similarly, Italian ''testa'' and French ''tête'' for "head" both derive from the Classical Latin ''testa'', meaning "pot", an apparent Imprial-era slang term; the more conservative Spanish dialect seems to have preserved ''caput'', which eventually became ''cabeza'' in modern Spanish. Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.

The modern Spanish language is a Romance language, one of the large family of languages descending from the [[UsefulNotes/LatinLanguage Vulgar Latin]] spoken by the common people of much of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages of Iberia--including Spanish, but also Portuguese, Catalan, and regional languages like Galician and Asturian--are interesting because they descend from a peculiarly conservative dialect of Vulgar Latin. Spain was one of the first regions the Romans conquered outside what is now Italy, having taken it during the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Republican era]] from the Carthaginians during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars. As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for "cheese," "head," and "beer," which were ''cāsus'' (native Latin word) and 'caput'' (ditto), and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Similarly, Italian ''testa'' and French ''tête'' for "head" both derive from the Classical Latin ''testa'', meaning "pot", an apparent Imprial-era slang term; the more conservative Spanish dialect seems to have preserved ''caput'', which eventually became ''cabeza'' in modern Spanish. Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.

The modern Spanish language is a Romance language, one of the large family of languages descending from the [[UsefulNotes/LatinLanguage Vulgar Latin]] spoken by the common people of much of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages of Iberia--including Spanish, but also Portuguese, Catalan, and regional languages like Galician and Asturian--are interesting because they descend from a peculiarly conservative dialect of Vulgar Latin. Spain was one of the first regions the Romans conquered outside what is now Italy, having taken it during the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Republican era]] from the Carthaginians during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars. As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for cheese and beer, which were ''cāsus'' (a native Latin word) and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.

After the conquest of the Americas, the biggest influences on Spanish have mainly been the various foreign influences on Spanish dialects, for which see UsefulNotes/SpanishAccentsAndDialects.

After ''Los Reyes Cathólicos'' completed the ''Reconquista'', the next major influence on Spanish (and from this point on it's purely vocabulary) is from its colonies. The strongest impact is probably from the Classical Nahuatl language of Mexico, whose names for various New World items generally became the "standard" (see, e.g. the worldwide acceptance of Nahuatl-derived ''chile'' (originally ''chīlli'' in Classical Nahuatl) over the Taíno-derived South American Spanish term ''ají'' for hot peppers, unless we're specifically talking about South American peppers).

%% There should be some discussion here of the development of Old Spanish but I must confess lack of knowledge.

-->-- Spanish poet '''Azorín'''[[note]]Pen name of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Martinez_Ruiz José Martínez Ruiz]], 1873-67[[/note]]

The modern Spanish language is a Romance language, one of the large family of languages descending from the [[UsefulNotes/LatinLanguage Vulgar Latin]] spoken by the common people of much of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages of Iberia--including Spanish, but also Portuguese, Catalan, and regional languages like Galician and Asturian--are interesting because they descend from a peculiarly conservative dialect of Vulgar Latin. Spain was one of the first regions the Romans conquered outside what is now Italy, having taken it during the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Republican era]] from the Carthaginians during UsefulNotes/ThePunicWars. As a result, Spanish Latin preserved a lot of Republican-era Classical Latin vocabulary that would be superseded in Rome in later periods, and some evidence of this remains even in modern Spanish. The two most commonly-cited examples are the terms for cheese and beer, which were ''cāsus'' (a native Latin word) and ''cevisera'' (a borrowing from Gaulish) in Classical Latin. Spanish retains ''cāsus'' as ''queso'', while more ''au courant'' dialects in Italy and Gaul replaced the word for cheese with ''formāticum'' (a slang word meaning "formed", because you make cheese in a form) sometime during the Empire (whence Italian ''formaggio'' and French ''fromage''). Meanwhile, both French and Italian borrow their words for beer (''bière'', ''birra'') from German ''Bier'', probably because of direct contact with German culture over the centuries, while Spanish retains the old Gaulish-derived ''cervesa''.

That said, Spanish isn't completely devoid of Germanic influences. The Visigoths ruled the peninsula for about 200 years and left their mark on the language. Their biggest influence is in personal names (for instance, the quintessentially Spanish masculine name Álvaro seems to be a Gothic name), but it also seems to have added a few vocabulary items (e.g. ''ganso'' for goose--the Latin word was ''anser'', the Gothic was ''gans'' as in modern Dutch and German). Also in the post-Roman period it seems that the Basque language started having an effect on the Romance dialects of north-central Iberia, mainly in phonology; the shift from word-initial ''f'' to ''h'' (e.g. ''fablar''-->''hablar'' "to speak") seems to have been Basque influence.