The Spanish language (/ˈspænɪʃ/ (About this sound listen); regarding this sound Español (help·info)), conjointly known as the Castilian language[4] (/kæˈstɪliən/ (About this sound listen), regarding this sound castellano (help·info)), may be a West Latin that originated within the Castilla region of Kingdom of Spain and nowadays has many legion native speakers round the world. it's typically thought of the world's second-most spoken language, once Mandarin Chinese.[5][6][7][8][9]
Spanish may be a a part of the Ibero-Romance cluster of languages, that evolved from many dialects of Low Latin in Iberia once the collapse of the Western empire within the fifth century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come back from mid-northern Iberia within the ninth century,[10] and therefore the initial systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, then capital of the dominion of Castilla, within the thirteenth century. starting within the early sixteenth century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to land, additionally as territories in continent, Oceanica and therefore the Philippines.[11]
Around seventy fifth of recent Spanish vocabulary springs from Latin. Ancient Greek has conjointly contributed considerably to Spanish vocabulary, particularly through Latin, wherever it had a good impact.[12][13]
Spanish vocabulary has been in touch from associate early date with Arabic, having developed throughout the Al-Andalus era within the Iberia.[14][15][16][17] With around 8 May 1945 of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is that the second most significant influence once Latin.[14][18][19] it's conjointly been influenced by Basque additionally as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages.[14] It conjointly adopted words from non-Iberian languages like Gothic language from the Visigoths[20]. it's absorbed vocabulary from different languages, notably the Romance languages French, Italian, Occitan, and Sardinian, additionally as from Nahuatl, Quechua, and different endemic languages of land.
Spanish is one in every of the six official languages of the international organization. it's conjointly used as a political candidate language by the ecu Union, the Organization of yank States, the Union of South yank Nations, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the African Union and by several different international organizations.[21]
image source