Old Spanish language
Encyclopedia
Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian or Mediaeval Spanish , is an early form of the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 that was spoken on the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

 from the tenth century until roughly the beginning of the fifteenth century, before a consonantic readjustment gave rise to the evolution of modern Spanish. The epic poem Cantar de Mio Cid
Cantar de Mio Cid
El Cantar de Myo Çid , also known in English as The Lay of the Cid and The Poem of the Cid is the oldest preserved Spanish epic poem...

, published around 1200, remains the best-known and most extensive work of literature in Old Spanish.

Phonetics and phonology

The phonological system of Old Spanish was quite similar to that of other mediaeval Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

. Amongst the consonants, there were three pairs of sibilants, each pair consisting of one voiceless
Voiceless
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...

 and one voiced
Voice (phonetics)
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...

 member:
  • Voiceless alveolar affricate
    Voiceless alveolar affricate
    The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩ . The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in such languages as German, Cantonese, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Mandarin...

     /ts/: represented by the letter "ç
    Ç
    is a Latin script letter, used in the Albanian, Azerbaijani, Ligurian, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Kurdish and Zazaki alphabets. This letter also appears in Catalan, French, Friulian, Occitan and Portuguese as a variant of the letter “c”...

    " before "a," "o," "u," and by "c" before "e" or "i"
  • Voiced alveolar affricate
    Voiced alveolar affricate
    The voiced alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩ , and the equivalent X-SAMPA representation is ⟨dz⟩.-Features:...

     /dz/: represented by the letter "z"
  • Voiceless apicoalveolar fricative /s/: represented by "s" in word-initial and word-final positions and before a consonant, and by "ss" between vowels
  • Voiced apicoalveolar fricative /z/: represented by the letter "s" between vowels
  • Voiceless postalveolar fricative
    Voiceless postalveolar fricative
    The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or voiceless domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages, including English...

     /ʃ/: represented by the letter "x" .gif", event)' onMouseout='HidePop("19041")' href="/topics/Digraph_(orthography)">digraph
    Digraph (orthography)
    A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...

     "sh")
  • Voiced postalveolar fricative
    Voiced postalveolar fricative
    The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or voiced domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some...

     /ʒ/: represented by the letter "j," and (often) by "g" before "e" or "i"


The Modern Spanish sound [x] (voiceless velar fricative
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English....

), corresponding to the letter "j" or to "g" before "e" or "i," and the Modern Spanish sound [θ] (voiceless dental fricative
Voiceless dental fricative
The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential...

), written as "z" or as "c" before "e" or "i," did not exist in Old Spanish. Modern Spanish [x] and [θ] evolved from [ʃ]~[ʒ] and [ts]~[dz] respectively. The Old Spanish spelling of the sibilants was identical to modern Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 spelling, which still reflects the mediaeval language; Spanish was respelt in 1815.

Examples:
  • xefe (modern Spanish jefe)
  • Xeres (modern Spanish Jerez)
  • oxalá (modern Spanish ojalá, cf. Portuguese oxalá)
  • dexar (modern Spanish dejar, cf. Portuguese deixar)
  • fazer or facer (modern Spanish hacer, cf. Portuguese fazer)
  • dezir (modern Spanish decir, cf. Portuguese dizer)
  • lança (modern Spanish lanza, cf. Portuguese lança)
  • passar (modern Spanish pasar, cf. Portuguese passar)
  • foces "sickles", fozes "throats/ravines" (modern Spanish hoces in both cases)
  • coxo "lame," cojo "I seize" (modern Spanish cojo in both cases)
  • osso "bear," oso "I dare" (modern Spanish oso in both cases)


The letters "b" and "v" were still distinct; "b" was still a stop consonant [b] in all positions, while "v" was pronounced as a voiced bilabial
Bilabial consonant
In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...

 or labiodental
Labiodental consonant
In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...

 fricative. The use of "b" and "v" in Old Spanish largely corresponded to their use in modern Portuguese, which still distinguishes the two sounds. When Spanish spelling was changed in 1815, words with "b" and "v" were respelt etymologically in order to match Latin spelling whenever possible.

Examples:
  • aver (modern Spanish haber, cf. Latin habēre, Portuguese haver)
  • caber (modern Spanish caber, cf. Latin capere, Portuguese caber)
  • bever (modern Spanish beber, cf. Latin bibere; Portuguese beber < older bever)
  • bivir/vivir (modern Spanish vivir, cf. Latin vīvere, Portuguese viver)
  • amava (modern Spanish amaba, cf. Latin amābam/amābat, Portuguese amava)


The letter "f" represented variously a labiodental, bilabial, or glottal fricative (like the English "h") that later disappeared from pronunciation except before a glide, where now an orthographic "h" represents it.

Examples:
  • fazer or facer (Modern Spanish: "hacer")
  • follín (Modern Spanish: "hollín")
  • ferir (Modern Spanish: "herir")
  • fiel (Modern Spanish: "fiel")
  • fuerte (Modern Spanish: "fuerte")
  • flor (Modern Spanish: "flor")

Morphology and syntax

In Old Spanish perfect constructions of movement verbs, such as ir (to go) and venir (to come), were formed using the auxiliary verb ser (to be), as in modern Italian and French. For example, Las mugieres son llegadas a Castiella (Las mujeres han llegado a Castilla).

Possession was expressed by the auxiliary verb aver (haber). Example: Pedro ha dos fijas (Pedro tiene dos hijas).

In the perfect
Perfect
Perfection is a philosophical concept.Perfect may also refer to:- Music :* Perfect interval, a type of interval used in music* Perfect * Perfect , a band from Poland* "Perfect" , 1988 single...

 tenses, the past participle often agreed with the gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...

 and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....

 of the direct object. Example: María ha cantadas dos canciones (María ha cantado dos canciones), yet this was inconsistent even in the earliest texts.

Personal pronoun
Personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...

s and substantives were placed after the verb in any tense or mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...

 unless a word with stress were present before the verb.

The future and conditional sentences were not grammaticalised fully as inflexions, i.e., the verb aver still was analysed as an auxiliary rather than as a synthetic suffix, and still received stress until the seventeenth century. Pronouns, therefore, following general placement rules, could be inserted between the main verb and the auxiliary in the future or conditional tense. Compare this phenomenon with modern Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 (mesoclisis):
E dixo: "Tornar-m-é a Jherusalem." (Fazienda de Ultra Mar, 194)
Y dijo: "Tornaré a Jerusalén." (modern equivalent)
And he said: "I shall return to Jerusalem." (English translation)

Empeñar selo he por lo que fuere guisado (Cantar de mio Cid, 92)
Se lo empeñaré por lo que fuere/sea razonable (modern equivalent)
I shall pawn it to them for whatever be reasonable (English translation)


If there were a word with stress before the verb empeñar, the pronouns would go before the verb: non selo empeñar he por lo que fuere guisado.

Generally, an unstressed pronoun and a verb in simple sentence
Simple sentence
A simple sentence is a sentence structure that contains one independent clause and no dependent clauses.-Examples:*The runner jumped....

s combined into one word. In a compound sentence
Compound sentence (linguistics)
A compound sentence is composed of at least two independent clauses. It does not require a dependent clause. The clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction , a correlative conjunction , a semicolon that functions as a conjunction, or a conjunctive adverb preceded by a semicolon. A conjunction...

, the pronoun was found in the beginning of the clause
Dependent clause
In linguistics, a dependent clause is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it...

. Example: la manol va besar = la mano le va a besar.

In comparison with the modern language, the future subjunctive was living (nowadays it may be found only in legal or solemn discourse, and in the spoken language in some dialects particularly in areas of Venezuela replacing the imperfect subjunctive). It was used similarly to its modern Portuguese counterpart, in place of the modern present subjunctive in a subordinate clause after si, cuando, etc., when an event in the future is referenced.
Si vos asi lo fizieredes y la ventura me fuere cumplida,
Mando al vuestro altar buenas donas y ricas (Cantar de mio Cid, 223-224)

Si vosotros así lo hacéis y la ventura me sea cumplida,
Mando al vuestro altar buenas donas y ricas (modern equivalent)

If ye do so and fortune be favourable toward me,
I shall send to your altar fine and rich offerings (English translation)

Latin Old Spanish Modern Spanish
acceptare, captare, effectum, respectum acetar, catar, efeto, respeto aceptar, captar, efecto, respecto and respeto
et, non, nos, hic e, et; non, no; nós; í y, e; no; nosotros; ahí
stabat; habui, habebat; facere, fecisti estava; ove, avié; far/fer/fazer/facer, feziste estaba; hube, había; hacer, hiciste
hominem, mulier, infantem omne; mugier, muger; ifante hombre, mujer, infante
cras, mane (maneana); numquam cras, man, mañana; nunqua mañana, nunca
quando, quid, qui (quem), quo modo quando, que, qui, commo/cuemo cuando, que, quien, como

Sample text

The following is a sample from Cantar de Mio Cid
Cantar de Mio Cid
El Cantar de Myo Çid , also known in English as The Lay of the Cid and The Poem of the Cid is the oldest preserved Spanish epic poem...

 (verses 330–365). A recording with reconstructed mediaeval pronunciation can be accessed to here, reconstructed according to period phonetics (by Jabier Elorrieta). Below, the original Old Spanish text in the first column is presented along the same sample in modern Spanish in the second column.
–Ya Señor glorioso, Padre
God the Father
God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...

 que en çielo
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

 estás,
Fezist çielo e tierra, el terçero el mar,
Fezist estrellas e luna, e el sol pora escalentar,
Prisist encarnaçión en Santa María madre,
En Beleem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

 apareçist, commo fue tu veluntad,
Pastores te glorificaron, oviéronte a laudare,
Tres reyes de Arabia te vinieron adorar,
Melchior e Gaspar e Baltasar
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...

, oro
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 e tus
Frankincense
Frankincense, also called olibanum , is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, particularly Boswellia sacra, B. carteri, B. thurifera, B. frereana, and B. bhaw-dajiana...

 e mirra
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....

Te ofreçieron, commo fue tu veluntad.
Salvest a Jonás
Jonah
Jonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...

 quando cayó en la mar,
Salvest a Daniel
Daniel
Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...

 con los leones en la mala cárçel,
Salvest dentro en Roma
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 al señor San Sabastián,
Salvest a Santa Susaña
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...

 del falso criminal,
Por tierra andidiste treinta e dos años, Señor spirital,
Mostrando los miráclos
Miracles of Jesus
The miracles of Jesus are the supernatural deeds of Jesus, as recorded in Gospels, in the course of his ministry. According to the Gospel of John, only some of these were recorded. states that "Jesus did many other things as well...

, por én avemos qué fablar,
Del agua fezist vino
Marriage at Cana
In Christianity, the transformation of water into wine at the Marriage at Cana or Wedding at Cana is the first miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John....

 e de la piedra pan,
Resuçitest a Lázaro
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...

, ca fue tu voluntad,
A los judíos te dexeste prender, do dizen monte Calvarie
Calvary
Calvary or Golgotha was the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early first century walls, at which the crucifixion of Jesus is said to have occurred. Calvary and Golgotha are the English names for the site used in Western Christianity...

Pusiéronte en cruz
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...

, por nombre en Golgotá,
Dos ladrones contigo, éstos de señas partes,
El uno es en paraíso, ca el otro
Gestas
The impenitent thief was one of the two thieves who was crucified alongside Jesus. According to the Gospels, he taunted Jesus about not saving himself, while the penitent thief asked for mercy. The impenitent thief is given the apocryphal name Gestas, which first appears in the Gospel of Nicodemus,...

 non entró allá,
Estando en la cruz vertud fezist muy grant,
Longinos era çiego, que nunquas vio alguandre,
Diot con la lança en el costado, dont ixió la sangre,
Corrió la sangre por el astil ayuso, las manos se ovo de untar,
Alçólas arriba, llególas a la faz,
Abrió sos ojos, cató a todas partes,
En ti crovo al ora, por end es salvo de mal.
En el monumento resuçitest e fust a los infiernos
Harrowing of Hell
The Harrowing of Hell is a doctrine in Christian theology referenced in the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed that states that Jesus Christ "descended into Hell"...

,
Commo fue tu voluntad,
Quebranteste las puertas e saqueste los padres santos.
Tú eres rey de los reyes
King of Kings
King of Kings is a title that has been used by several monarchies and empires throughout history. The title originates in the Ancient Near East. It is broadly the equivalent of the later title Emperor....

 e de tod el mundo padre,
A ti adoro e creo de toda voluntad,
E ruego a San Peidro
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

 que me ajude a rogar
Por mio Çid el Campeador
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar , known as El Cid Campeador , was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat...

, que Dios le curie de mal,
Quando oy nos partimos, en vida nos faz juntar.–
–O Señor glorioso, Padre que en cielo estás,
Hiciste cielo y tierra, el tercero el mar,
Hiciste estrellas y luna, y el sol para calentar,
Te encarnaste en Santa María madre,
En Belén apareciste, como fue tu voluntad,
Pastores te glorificaron, te tuvieron que loar,
Tres reyes de Arabia te vinieron a adorar,
Melchor y Gaspar y Baltasar, oro e incienso y mirra
Te ofrecieron, como fue tu voluntad.
Salvaste a Jonás cuando cayó en el mar,
Salvaste a Daniel con los leones en la mala cárcel,
Salvaste dentro de Roma al señor San Sebastián,
Salvaste a Santa Susana del falso criminal,
Por tierra anduviste treinta y dos años, Señor espiritual,
Mostrando los milagros, por ende tenemos qué hablar,
Del agua hiciste vino y de la piedra pan,
Resucitaste a Lázaro, porque fue tu voluntad,
Por los judíos te dejaste prender, donde dicen monte Calvario
Te pusieron en cruz, por nombre en Golgotá,
Dos ladrones contigo, éstos de sendas partes,
El uno está en paraíso, porque el otro no entró allá,
Estando en la cruz virtud hiciste muy grande,
Longinos era ciego, que nunca se vio jamás,
Te dio con la lanza en el costado, donde salió la sangre,
Corrió la sangre por el astil abajo, las manos se las tuvo que untar,
Las alzó arriba, las llegó a la faz,
Abrió sus ojos, miró a todas partes,
En ti creyó entonces, por ende es salvado de mal.
En el monumento resucitaste y fuiste a los infiernos,
Como fue tu voluntad,
Quebrantaste las puertas y sacaste a los padres santos.
Tú eres rey de los reyes y de todo el mundo padre,
A ti te adoro y creo de toda voluntad,
Y ruego a San Pedro que me ayude a rogar
Por mi Cid el Campeador, que Dios le cure del mal,
Cuando hoy partamos, en vida haznos juntar.–

External links

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