Non-Latin elements. – The Romanization of Spain did not extinguish indigenous languages; but as these are almost entirely unknown, the critique of the elements derived from them in Castilian in a primitive age is very difficult. Even the words that the Latin authors indicate as Spanish are questionable. Instead, many cases of the influence of Basque and related Iberian languages on Castilian could be pointed out. Since these languages almost generally lack the sound f, some of them may be credited with the loss of the Latin f in Spanish.
The words of Greek origin come from very different epochs of contact between the Latin and Romance languages with the Greek population; moreover, literary Greek at all times gave a multitude of words to the language of the scholars and to the technicality of the sciences. The accent of these Hellenisms vacillates according to whether one follows the original accent or the reformed one from Latin; the same happens for words ending in – ia, but those in – grama all have a grave accent.
Of the voices of Germanic origin used in Spanish some had already been incorporated from Latin before the Visigoths came to Spain; moreover, the intense Romanization of that people meant that its language had little influence on Spanish, except for onomastics (Alfonso, Fernando, Rodrigo, etc.). Other voices penetrated late through French (eg, jardín).
According to THENAILMYTHOLOGY.COM, the Arab influence on the Spanish is very remarkable. And this is explained by the eight centuries of more or less intimate coexistence of the two languages and above all by the fact that Arab culture was in many cases superior to Christian. So while Roger Bacon and Ramon Llull boasted the study of Arabic as a powerful remedy against Western ignorance, in Córdoba, which was the most intense center of Arab-Spanish culture, the Spanish novel was known and used not only by Christians there. residents, but also by Muslims. Thus the Arabic language gave the scientific vocabulary words such as álgebra, healism, cipher, cero, auge, alquimia, elixir,alcohol, azoque, etc.; to the military vocabulary: alcázar, alcaide, alférez, atalaya, algarada, alfange, alarde ; to that of municipal life: aldea, arrabal, alcalde ; to that of other institutions: albacea, alcabala, alquiler, alguacil ; to that of trade and bargaining places: almacén, zoco, bazar, almoneda,aduana, arancel, fardo, barato, tarifa, arroba, quintal, fanega and other names of weights and measures that today are falling into disuse. In the industries, especially in that of canvas and adornment, we have: algodón, alfombra, aljófar, alpargata, and in the construction industry: albañil, zaguán, azotea, alcoba, azulejo, alcantarilla, andamio, rincón, mazmorra. The great progress of the Moors in agriculture imposed many names of plants: arroz, azafrán, adelfa, azahar, jazmín, etc., and above all words relating to the irrigation system which was very perfected: acequia, aljibe, noria. There are many Arabic terms used for tools, materials, precious objects and for personal or domestic use, offices, games, and in music, medicine, cooking, administration, institutions, etc.
The relations of Spain with France have been continuous; very intense since the Middle Ages (royal weddings, pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostella, trade, French monks, etc.), they have left a good number of words relating to the life of the courtiers, the arts, industries, etc. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the great robustness of Spanish literature led to a decrease in the introduction of Gallicisms; but from the reign of Charles II, and above all with the advent of the Bourbon dynasty in the century. XVIII, the French influence in Spain, as indeed in all of Europe, became predominant. Much less important is the amount of Anglicisms existing in Spanish, most of which, having penetrated through French, are actually Gallicisms. The present development of industries and sport has caused the adoption of a large number of Anglicisms; but they are preserved in their exotic form, because the language has not reacted to assimilate them.
After Gallicism, the most important foreign element is Italian. A number of facts explain this: the papacy, the double pilgrimages to Rome and Santiago, the flourishing of Italian universities, the Spanish college of Bologna founded by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz in 1364, where Nebrija was educated, commerce and banking, (so active that the word genoves from the thirteenth century meant banker) the Spanish dominion in Italy especially in Sicily and Naples from Peter III of Aragon (1282) up to the Bourbon Charles III (1759).
The Great Captain said: “Spain the weapons, and Italy the pen”, and this sentence shows us the two main means of introducing Italianisms: the Spanish soldiers who came to Italy and literature. The type of the soldier who has recently returned from Italy abounds in the comedies and short stories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, overflowing with new words: infantería, escopeta, alerta, trinchera, etc.
There are very few cases of elements introduced into Spanish from other languages, which very often entered it through French or Italian. However, the American languages deserve a special mention. The discovery of America brought a great deal of New World products, animals, utensils and uses, and with them their indigenous names, into Spain and Europe. They are Caribbean voices: batata (name of the sweet tuber which for confusion gave the name of potato to the insipid one), huracán, maíz, cacique, tabaco, tiburón, etc.; from the Aztecs came: hule, tiza, chocolate,tomate, petaca, and dagl’Incas: them, pampas, vicuña.
What Castilian took away from the related languages spoken in the peninsula, as it is easy to imagine, is a lot. Galician-Portuguese between 1200 and 1350 was the language used in lyric poetry in almost all of Spain. The prestige of some Catalan-speaking authors, such as Ausias March (15th century), extends up to the 15th century. XVI, in which Garcilaso and Herrera imitate him. In the modern ethic this literary communion only grew, especially after the renaissance of Catalan literature, because its writers, especially the dramas, are read and translated in Castile.
