Castilian comes from Latin and receives this name since it originates in Castile. Although there has been a lot of controversy around whether in Spain we should call our language Castilian or Spanish , the truth is that we usually choose the first (Castilian) and in fact it is defined as our first language in the Constitution . But how has Spanish evolved? It is evident that there have been changes, so we are now talking about the differences and similarities between old and current Spanish.
The differences and similarities of old and current Castilian Spanish
Old Spanish refers to the different variants of Spanish spoken in the Iberian Peninsula between the 10th and 14th centuries and is also usually called medieval Spanish.
It is a Castilian that we can read in such famous works as the Cantar del MÃo Cid and that was characterized by the high use of sibilants and the distinction it made between voiceless and voiced fricatives.
It was between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when what is known as “readjustment of the sibilant consonants” occurs, a phonetic change that occurred naturally and that allowed somehow to originate the current Castilian or the Castilian that we speak today .
However, it is evident that our Castilian Spanish still retains some of the characteristics with respect to medieval, for example the similarity in some phonemes and vowels , but there are some very marked differences in this regard, such as:
- readjustment of the wheezing that has not occurred in such a way that in medieval Castilian it is common to find an infinity of wheezing phonemes.
- In fact, there was the use of six phonemes: / ts / and / dz /, / s̺ / and / z̺ /, / ʃ / and / ʒ /, which are now three : / θ / ‹z›, / s / ‹S›, / x / ‹j›
- the use of the Latin f as for example in «farina» that today we call «flour».
- YeÃsmo is rare in medieval Castilian Spanish
- the letter ‹b› and the letter ‹v› represented two different sounds in medieval Spanish.
The similarities in the vowels
On the other hand, however, it seems that medieval and current Spanish still resemble each other in the use of vowels. In fact, although we have / a, e, i, o, u / in our current Castilian Spanish, these also existed in medieval times, although some words use other vowels with respect to how they are written and pronounced today. For example, it is the case of “pora” that we now pronounce and write as “for” although they are specific changes or differences that should be analyzed word by word.
Other differences between medieval and current Castilian Spanish
The aforementioned are the main differences with respect to medieval Spanish, although the evolution to current Spanish is evident so that we can point out these other characteristics that differentiate the same language between one era and the other.
- In medieval or ancient Castilian Spanish, the article “la” did not coincide with feminine words beginning with the letter “a”, even if this was not the accented vowel. They said “the hobby”, “the friendship.” The rule even passed to voices that began with other premises, such as “the spelling”
- The preposition “of” was linked with the adjectives ella , este and ese. Therefore, they said we, we, or we.
- In old Spanish the consonant that ends in a syllable in the middle of diction was eliminated. “Conduct for conduct” “Egito for Egypt.”
- The relative had no plural and was used to speak without differences of a person or thing.
- The demonstratives this and that , which in current Spanish indicates a near or distant object, were used interchangeably.
- The second person plural of all verb forms used the ending des instead of is , (for example “cantades” for “you sing”, “sodes” for “you are”, etc …)
- Compound verbs received a particular construction . “I have to see you” or “I have to do it”, for example, were expressed by “see you I have”, “do it I have.”
- When the infinitive was modified by complements such as lo, la and le , they used to change the final »r» of the verb into «l», which caused an «ll» to form in the last syllable of the word , so they said “tenello” or “gotillo”, and so on.
