Names Given To The Spanish Language
There are two names given to the Spanish language: Spanish (español) and Castilian (castellano). Spanish speakers from different countries or backgrounds can show a preference for one term or the other, or use them indiscriminately, but political issues or common usage might lead speakers to prefer one term over the other. This article identifies the differences between those terms, the countries or backgrounds that show a preference for one or the other, and the implications the choice of words might have for a native Spanish speaker.
Generally speaking, both terms can refer to the Spanish language as a whole, with a preference for one over the other that depends on the context or the speaker's origin. Castilian (castellano) has another, more restricted, meaning, relating either to the old romance language spoken in the Kingdom of Castile in the Middle Ages, predecessor of the modern Spanish language, or to the variation of Spanish nowadays spoken in the historical region of Castile, in central Spain.
Read more about Names Given To The Spanish Language: History of The Terms, Academic Choice of Words, Usage in Spain, Usage and Implications in Former Colonies, Usage and Misconceptions Abroad
Famous quotes containing the words names, spanish and/or language:
“If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will—the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“Ferdinand De Soto, sleeping
In the river, never heard
Four-and-twenty Spanish hooves
Fling off their iron and cut the green,
Leaving circles new and clean
While overhead the wing-tips whirred.”
—Mark Van Doren (1894–1973)
“Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)