Names given to the Spanish language |
There are two main names given to the Spanish language: 'Spanish' and 'Castilian'.
This article explains the usage, history and connotations of these two terms, and some others.
'Spanish' versus 'Castilian'
Historically
Linguistically speaking, 'Castilian' means 'Spanish', as it is
the mediaeval Castilian language that spread across Spain and became the national
language known virtually always as 'Spanish', in English. In Spanish itself, however, the term castellano (Castilian) is
extremely commonly used to refer to the language, often at the expense of the term español (Spanish). It seems that
awareness of the term 'Castilian' is growing in English, and even more so in French.
To understand how two terms can refer to the same language, imagine that the English language was sometimes called 'English'
after the historical national whose language it is, but also sometimes 'British' after the modern state of which it is the
official language. Imagine then that Britain had an empire of colonies in the Americas. How would they then refer to the
language? What about the speakers of Welsh and other non-English languages spoken in
Britain?
This is almost exactly the situation with Spain and its historical heart, Castile.
(For general discussion of the history and linguistic characteristics of the Castilian language, see Spanish language)
Usage and implications today in Spain
Spaniards quite logically tend to call their language español (Spanish) when contrasting it to other national
languages (e.g. in a list such as francés, inglés, chino y español) but castellano (Castilian) when contrasting
it with regional languages (e.g. gallego, vasco, catalán y castellano or as in the Spanish Constitution of 1978).
The official Real Academia Española used
castellano from the 18th century, but from 1923 its dictionary and grammar are de la lengua española. However,
the Academy's use of one term or the other should not be taken to be a condemnation of the other.
Bilingual regions
In the bilingual regions where such 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 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 is a common belief in nationalist circles,
which represent a very large, very vocal minority in Spain.
Monolingual regions
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 themselves 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
Spanish/Castilian and the duty to know it'). However, they also frequently call it castellano, thus implying it is their
special language that the rest of Spain is just borrowing, if you will. Alternatively, they may of course use the term in order
to distinguish between Castilian and the regional languages.
Outside of Castile, there are other regions of Spain that are monolingual (i.e. they only speak Spanish/Castilian); for
example, Aragon or Andalusia). In these
areas, español may be used as in Castile to stress the national nature of the language, with a slightly different
nuance: they are accepting another region's historical language as their national language, rather than asserting their own as
one. The terms have otherwise much the same significance as in Castile.
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 ¡habla 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
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 today in former colonies
Both of the language's names are commonly used in parts of the world colonised by Spanish speakers, such as the Americas. As
in Spain, the implications of the choice of terms is 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. 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 colonisation 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 and internationally forgotten
within Spain, 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 deep philosophical,
sociological and political thought on the individual level.
Some constitution avoids the issue by talking about "the national language".
Countries or regions where castellano ('Castilian') is generally preferred
Countries or regions where español ('Spanish') is generally preferred
Countries or regions where there is generally oscillation between the two
Usage and misconceptions abroad
This complex linguistic situation is obviously not always grasped by non-Spanish speakers (or even by them). 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 has 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' and 'Latino Spanish' among other languages.
Historical background to the various terms
History of the term 'Castilian'
Castile (in Spanish: Castilla) means Castle-land, from castillo
plus the suffix -ia. An earlier form of the name is Castiella, which survives in the Astur-Leonese dialect and can be seen in mediaeval Castilian texts such as the
Lay of the Cid. 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 reason for the name is that Castile was a land surrounded by castles for centuries during and after the Reconquest
(Reconquista) of the peninsula from the Moors by Christians spreading down from
their northern stronghold.
History of the term 'Spanish'
HISPANIA was the name given to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans when they discovered and later subjugated
it. They 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 Provençal 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 thus began to be used to refer to the languages of the Christian inhabitants of the Iberian
Peninsular (this was during the mediaeval Moorish occupation 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, 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 dominated by Castile. So, the break with the Roman concept of Hispania was complete, and the term
acquired its modern meaning of 'all of Iberia except for Portugal'. 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.
History of the term 'Christian'
As mentioned above, Spanish or Castilian was the language of the Christians in Muslim-dominated Spain. It therefore was sometimes given the name cristiano to distinguish it from the
'heathen' Arabic language. This term is still used today to refer to the language, though usually ironically, and never in
English.
History of the term 'Dago'
'Dago' is an offensive term applied to Spaniards and their language by English speakers. It is said to derive from the
forename Diego.
History of the term 'Spik'
'Spik' is an offensive term applied to Spanish-speakers and their language by English speakers. It derives from the word
'speak' (as in 'I don't speak English'), pronounced with a Spanish accent.
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 the writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,
and in analogy with the expressions lengua de Shakespeare (English),
lengua de Goethe (German), lengua de Dante (Italian), etc.
* denotes an unattested or hypothetical form.
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