History of Spanish

Spanish began as Vulgar Latin spoken by Roman settlers after their conquest of Hispania in the 3rd century BCE. Local tongues influenced the Latin that everyday people used.

The Visigoths, a Germanic tribe, ruled Hispania from the 5th to 8th centuries and added some vocabulary and names, though their linguistic impact was limited.

From 711 to 1492, much of Iberia was under Muslim rule. Arabic enriched Spanish with thousands of loanwords, and Mozarabic dialects bridged Latin and Arabic influences.

As Christian kingdoms reconquered territory, Castilian (from the Kingdom of Castile) became dominant. The 13th-century standardization under Alfonso X helped shape its grammar and vocabulary.

From the late 15th century, Spain's global empire spread the language to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Colonial administrations and missionaries promoted Spanish, which mixed with indigenous languages.

The 16th and 17th centuries saw masterpieces by Cervantes and others that elevated Spanish prestige and helped fix norms through widely read works.

In 1713 the Real Academia Española was founded to regulate the language. Its dictionaries and grammar guides promote a standardized Spanish used in education and media.

Spanish today includes many regional dialects in Spain and the Americas, shaped by history, contact with other languages, and local innovation. Standard Spanish coexists with vibrant local speech.

Spanish grew from Latin through layers of influence—Visigothic, Arabic, and regional Romance dialects—before becoming Spain's national language and then a global tongue through empire and literature.