Where does Spanish come from.....

Question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_(full)

The history of the Spanish language in Spain started with the evolution of Vulgar Latin and grew to the various dialects of Spanish used in Spain to the types of Spanish used all over the world.
http://www.trustedtranslations.com/castilian_spanish.asp#spain

Spanish comes from latin and I believe some arbic.......sorry guys. Therefore, we have been posting many latin words....on this website.

Answer 1

You mean Arabic? "Ojalá" comes to mind . . .

English is a Romance language, too, and knowing the Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes which are most commonly used in English is certainly a help to one's vocabulary -- but only a few people actually learn Latin anymore. I refrain from listing all the other influences on English . . . the history of the English language is very convoluted and has a lot to do with all the inconsistency which exists in our language today.

So are you trying to learn Latin? I still don't understand why you would post questions about Latin here. It doesn't seem to match the site's purpose.

Answer 2

Spanish is about 70-80% Latin, but a fair amount of frequently used words are Greek as well as Arabic, a reasonable amount are Germanic ones; there is also some Basque, Persian, Celtic, some Native American languages, and a a few from others.

For example, in this (silly) sentence, the underlined words are Greek:

Tuvo una idea idiota: ver el circo que está en la zona de cerca de la playa de las conchas, la gruta de los piratas, y luego el museo de los relojes, el zoológico, y aprender más idiomas.

Answer 3

Natasha said:

You mean Arabic? "Ojalá" comes to mind . . . English is a Romance language, too, and knowing the Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes which are most commonly used in English is certainly a help to one's vocabulary -- but only a few people actually learn Latin anymore. I refrain from listing all the other influences on English . . . the history of the English language is very convoluted and has a lot to do with all the inconsistency which exists in our language today.

So are you trying to learn Latin? I still don't understand why you would post questions about Latin here. It doesn't seem to match the site's purpose.

Sorry, Natasha:
English is a Germanic language. However, after the Norman invasion, the nobility of England spoke French (and many of them didn't speak English, at all) for several centuries. All of this had a tremendous influence on English (not so much on the grammar but, certainly on the vocabulary). English also borrowed a lot of vocabulary (and some notions of "proper" grammar) from Latin. Like most European languages, Greek heavily influenced technical terms (as well as providing more everyday vocabulary [most of the examples in Lazarus' sentence also made it into English]]).

Since French (like Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, etc.) is a Romance language one could say that the words come from Latin but the fact that they came by way of French does/did make a difference. Later, largely as a result of the renaissance, there was an additional large-scale borrowing from Latin (this time, directly), especially in technical/scientific terms and of "literary" vocabulary.

Look at the most basic/common/everyday words in English: our pronouns, to be/do/have/make: all from German.

Answer 4

Samdie, nice summary. I'll add that many of the words we borrowed from French did not replace their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, but instead took their places as synonyms. Generally speaking, words derived from the Germanic ancestors of English are shorter, more concrete, and more direct, while their Latinate counterparts are longer, more abstract, and are regarded as more elegant or educated.

Here are some examples of this in meat names. The order is English, German, English, French.

Cow (Kuh) / Beef (Boeuf)
Calf (Kalb) / Veal (Veau)
Swine (Schweine) / Pork (Porc)
Sheep (Schaf) / Mutton (Mouton)

Other examples (Anglo-Saxon vs. Latinate):

Anger/wrath = rage/ire
Bodily = corporal
Brotherly = fraternal
Leave = egress/exit/depart
Thinking = pensive
Dog = canine
Come = arrive
Ask = enquire

As a result of the Norman conquest, English is particularly rich in synonyms.

Answer 5

lazarus1907 said:

Spanish is about 70-80% Latin, but a fair amount of frequently used words are Greek as well as Arabic, a reasonable amount are Germanic ones; there is also some Basque, Persian, Celtic, some Native American languages, and a a few from others.

For example, in this (silly) sentence, the underlined words are Greek:

Tuvo una idea idiota: ver el circo que está en la zona de cerca de la playa de las conchas, la gruta de los piratas, y luego el museo de los relojes, el zoológico, y aprender más idiomas.

How about some examples from Arabic. Everyone that gets past the most introductory courses in Spanish knows about "ojalá" and a variety of place names e.g. Alhambra, Guadalquivir, etc. but with almost 800 years of occupation of substantial chunks of Spanish real estate, I would have expected a much more obvious/pervasive influence on the language (a la influence of French on English). I gather from some of your responses that you can do dictionary searches on "language of origin".

P.S. I also know (and had confirmed when I studied Arabic) that El Cid is just a corruption (phonetically speaking) of "al sayid" (the Romanization leaves something to be desired). What I'm hoping for is more indications of penetration into the everyday vocabulary.

Answer 6

What I'm hoping for is more indications of penetration into the everyday vocabulary.

Here is a partial list.

passage into a house zagudn Ar. ustuwan,
flat roof azotea al-sufaiha, dim. of sath roof
awning toldo zulla canopy
bedroom alcoba al-qubba dome
cupboard alacena al-khizana, cupboard
shelf anaquel al-naqqal bearer
stand, dais, footstool tarima tarima
partition tabique tabaq layer, surface
carpet or mat alfombra al-khumra mat of palm-leaves
pillow almobada al-mukhadda pillow
pin alfiler al-khilal
dressing-gown bata batta a coarse garment, lining
overcoat gabdn qaba' outer garment
builder albanil al-banna'
scaffolding andamio ad-da a'im pillars, supports
warehouse almacen al-makhzan
paving-stone adoquin al-dukkan shop, stone bench
tar alquitran al-qatran
hire alquiler al-kira'
damage averia 'awar
to reach, overtake alcanzar al-kanz buried treasure
hole in the road baden. batin sunk ground
custom-house aduana al-diwan
ticket office (station or theatre) taqa, taquilla
mayor alcalde al-qadi, judge
executor albacea al-wasi testator, executor
notice, invoice albaran al-bara'a document of acquittal
what's-his-name fulano fulan
until hasta hatta

Hatta luego!

Answer 7

Okay...........whisky top that! LOL
I can say a few things phonetically in arabic
Keef halák keef halek al-hamd-illah Ismee Deborah

samdie said:

lazarus1907 said:

Spanish is about 70-80% Latin, but a fair amount of frequently used words are Greek as well as Arabic, a reasonable amount are Germanic ones; there is also some Basque, Persian, Celtic, some Native American languages, and a a few from others.For example, in this (silly) sentence, the underlined words are Greek:Tuvo una idea idiota: ver el circo que está en la zona de cerca de la playa de las conchas, la gruta de los piratas, y luego el museo de los relojes, el zoológico, y aprender más idiomas.

How about some examples from Arabic. Everyone that gets past the most introductory courses in Spanish knows about "ojalá" and a variety of place names e.g. Alhambra, Guadalquivir, etc. but with almost 800 years of occupation of substantial chunks of Spanish real estate, I would have expected a much more obvious/pervasive influence on the language (a la influence of French on English). I gather from some of your responses that you can do dictionary searches on "language of origin".P.S. I also know (and had confirmed when I studied Arabic) that El Cid is just a corruption (phonetically speaking) of "al sayid" (the Romanization leaves something to be desired). What I'm hoping for is more indications of penetration into the everyday vocabulary.

>

Answer 8

And all this started because some poor girl thought a latin phrase was spanish and I was asked why I posted a latin phrase of this website. If we quit this I will give up my recipe for Kinafi be Jiben.

La Cosa said:

Okay...........whisky top that! LOLI can say a few things phonetically in arabicKeef halák keef halek al-hamd-illah Ismee Deborah

samdie said:

lazarus1907 said:

Spanish is about 70-80% Latin, but a fair amount of frequently used words are Greek as well as Arabic, a reasonable amount are Germanic ones; there is also some Basque, Persian, Celtic, some Native American languages, and a a few from others.For example, in this (silly) sentence, the underlined words are Greek:Tuvo una idea idiota: ver el circo que está en la zona de cerca de la playa de las conchas, la gruta de los piratas, y luego el museo de los relojes, el zoológico, y aprender más idiomas.

How about some examples from Arabic. Everyone that gets past the most introductory courses in Spanish knows about "ojalá" and a variety of place names e.g. Alhambra, Guadalquivir, etc. but with almost 800 years of occupation of substantial chunks of Spanish real estate, I would have expected a much more obvious/pervasive influence on the language (a la influence of French on English). I gather from some of your responses that you can do dictionary searches on "language of origin".P.S. I also know (and had confirmed when I studied Arabic) that El Cid is just a corruption (phonetically speaking) of "al sayid" (the Romanization leaves something to be desired). What I'm hoping for is more indications of penetration into the everyday vocabulary.

>

Answer 9

Sorry not whiskey....alcohol

Answer 10

La Cosa said:

Okay...........whisky top that! LOL

:

I can say a few things phonetically in arabic Keef halák keef halek al-hamd-illah Ismee Deborah

It is my understanding that that "kef halek" is specifically Iraqi dialect (as opposed to "kef sahatek" (or 'kef sahetiki" if I were addressing you [whom I take to be female]) [more standard Arabic] and "kef" is meant to suggest something that sounds more like what English speakers would do with "kayf" )

But to your general point, yes, I should be more inclined to suspect that anything that starts with "al" may well be derived from Arabic. I should also have mentioned that "algebra" and "algorithm" are well known to be derived from Arabic.

>

Answer 11

James, thank you for that lovely list!. There are about a half-dozen that I'm familiar with (and, particularly, those that start with "al-") I should have suspected of being from the Arabic.But you also included a bunch that I would not have guessed to be from Arabic. (as I've mentioned elsewhere, my Arabic course was rather focused on military matters.)

Answer 12

I should be more inclined to suspect that anything that starts with "al" may well be derived from Arabic.

May well be, but are not necessarily. Almuerzo (lunch), alameda (avenue), alambre (wire), and almendra (almond) all came from Latin without passing through Arabic.

Speaking of words that start with al-: The English word alligator is a corruption of the Spanish el largato. This same process was involved in the corruption of many al-prefix Arabic words into their current Spanish spellings.

Answer 13

And while I'm on a trivia role here:

The English word orange comes from the Spanish naranja through the Old French orenge. I have heard that the initial N was dropped because when people pronounced "une norenge," the two N's elided, with the result that the first N in norenge disappeared. Naranja itself came from the Arabic naranj, which came from Persian narang.

Answer 14

James Santiago said:

I should be more inclined to suspect that anything that starts with "al" may well be derived from Arabic.

May well be, but are not necessarily. Almuerzo (lunch), alameda (avenue), alambre (wire), and almendra (almond) all came from Latin without passing through Arabic.

Speaking of words that start with al-: The English word alligator is a corruption of the Spanish el largato. This same process was involved in the corruption of many al-prefix Arabic words into their current Spanish spellings.

I find it disconcerting when you compose a reply when I'm still in the process of editing the reply to which you are responding! ((which is not to say that your replies are unwelcome!)

Answer 15

samdie said:

Natasha said:

You mean Arabic? "Ojalá" comes to mind . . . English is a Romance language, too, and knowing the Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes which are most commonly used in English is certainly a help to one's vocabulary -- but only a few people actually learn Latin anymore. I refrain from listing all the other influences on English . . . the history of the English language is very convoluted and has a lot to do with all the inconsistency which exists in our language today.

So are you trying to learn Latin? I still don't understand why you would post questions about Latin here. It doesn't seem to match the site's purpose.

Sorry, Natasha:

English is a Germanic language. However, after the Norman invasion, the nobility of England spoke French (and many of them didn't speak English, at all) for several centuries. All of this had a tremendous influence on English (not so much on the grammar but, certainly on the vocabulary). English also borrowed a lot of vocabulary (and some notions of "proper" grammar) from Latin. Like most European languages, Greek heavily influenced technical terms (as well as providing more everyday vocabulary [most of the examples in Lazarus' sentence also made it into English]]).

Since French (like Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, etc.) is a Romance language one could say that the words come from Latin but the fact that they came by way of French does/did make a difference. Later, largely as a result of the renaissance, there was an additional large-scale borrowing from Latin (this time, directly), especially in technical/scientific terms and of "literary" vocabulary.

Look at the most basic/common/everyday words in English: our pronouns, to be/do/have/make: all from German.

Wow, I learned something. Unfortunately, I don't speak any German (beyond schnell, nein, etc.). It is a sad but true story (and there's a similar one on my husband's side of the family): my grandfather spoke German in the home to my father and his brother when they were very small. However, he stopped doing it, apparently because of the prejudice against German Americans during WW II. My dad speaks enough German to ask for directions, etc., but that's about it. Too bad.