From medieval to modern spelling in Spanish literature

The Spanish language has radically changed during the last thousand years. In the early 11th century AD, Spanish literature began its journey when Muslims in Iberia wrote “jarchas,” a mixture of Arabic and Latin poetry. Beginning in the 13th century, non-Muslim Christians in Spain and Portugal wrote many works of poetry and prose. In both countries, the language of these first Iberian texts was a synthesis of dialects of previous conquerors: Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Jews and Muslims. Alfonso X, the “wise” king of Portugal, composed an exhaustive number of poetic literature, but most of these works are in Galician-Portuguese. In the 14th century, Spanish writers composed most of his poetry and prose. The spelling of many Old Spanish words is erratic and confusing, but I have included a list of translated medieval-modern quotes and words from Old Spanish texts.

Try reading these quotes from two texts in medieval Spanish:

1.Said Dina: – They say that a rich man was in a cibdat and covered a woman who was very “beautiful and entertaining.” (Calila e Dimna, 15).

Modern spelling: Digna said: – They say that there was a rich man in a city and he had a very ‘beautiful and heard’ woman. Translation: Digna said: “They say that there was a rich man in a city and that he had a very beautiful and wise wife (woman).”

2.El Cid already sees that del rrey non avie grace. Partios of the door through Burgos Aguijava, bequeath to Santa Maria then descalvaga, ‘finco los inojos de coracon rrogava. The sentence dates later Cavalgava; He left through the door and (in) Arlancion passava. (The Poem of the Cid, 52-57).

Modern spelling: The Cid already sees that the king had no grace. Party of the door through Burgos prodded, arrived at Santa María then took off his feet, knelt the innocence of heart he begged. The prayer made then rode; He went out the door and in Arlanción he passed.

Translation: El Cid knew that the king was angry. He left the door, galloped through Burgos, straight to the Cathedral of Santa María, where he dropped from his horse. He fell to his knees and prayed from the heart. The moment he finished his sentence, he was gone. He went out the door and crossed the Arlacion (river).

The basic spelling rules of medieval Spanish are grouped as follows:

vb: avere- (h) aber, (to have); fablava-spoke, (spoke) avia- (h) abia, (had);

fh: fablar-speak, (speak); fazer-do, (do, do); fasta-hasta, (until); fixed / a-son / a, (son, daughter); fail-find, (find); fer-ser, (to be); phage-I do, (I do, I do);

zc: fazer-do, (do, do); dezir-say, (say); pleasure-pleasure, (to please). (The “z” gives words a “z” or “ts” sound).

qu-cu (at the beginning of the word): quando-when, (when); which-which, (which, which); quanto-how much, (quantity); room-room, (room); fourth-four, (oven).

td (at the end of the word): maldat-maldad, (evil); truth-truth, (truth); cibdat-city, (city); piedat-piedad, (piety).

xj: said-said, (said); Ximena-Jimena, (woman’s name); dexo-dejo, (I’m leaving). (The “x” makes a “sh” sound).

ss-s: pass-pass, (pass time, pass); vassalos-vassals (vassals);

rr-r: rrico-rico, (rich), rrey-rey (king). (The two r’s at the beginning of a word make the “trill” sound).

1-11: cry-cry (cry); lueve-llueve (it’s raining); lover-llover (to rain). The two LLs together are pronounced as an “and”.

The words that began with “of” were contracted with words that today are separated:

Dello-de it, from-this, della-de her, dalli-de there, daquel-de that;

mn before “b” or “p”: lunbra-lumbra, (light); canpos-fields, (fields); non-number (name).

uv: oluidar-forget, (to forget); auia-avia, (had); caualgar-cavalgar (to ride a horse).

Other medieval Spanish words include:

agora-now (now);

omne, ome, ombre-man (man);

mugger, muggier-woman (woman, wife);

do-where, (where); wherever-wherever (wherever);

ca-cause (because);

nerd;

nin-ni; (none).

This list is just a basic guide to spelling words in medieval Spanish literature. If you read all the Spanish literature between the 11th and 15th centuries, you probably wouldn’t recognize all the words because there are an astonishing number of different spellings. The spelling is erratic. On The Poem of Mio Cid, many words are scattered or missing. There are spaces between words, letters, and accents; It is not surprising that very few works were collected during the 11th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the grammar used in poetry became much more stable and the words more recognizable. The change in spelling also included minimal changes in pronunciation and grammar. The prose followed a less erratic pattern of letters, accents, and disjointed words; his sentences were much more complete.

At the end of the 15th century, the Renaissance that was born in Italy was adopted by the Spanish culture. Many scholars believe that this cultural phenomenon began in 1492 when Elio Antonio de Nebrija wrote the first book on Spanish grammar, The Grammar of the Spanish Language, that establishes standardized rules for Spanish spelling, pronunciation, and grammar. At the same time, many literary works were created, such as: Amadís de Gaula, La Celestina, The Cage of Love, and poetic compositions by Jorge Manrique, the Marquis of Santillana, Íñigo López de Mendozaand anonymous writers too. Popular productions such as romances, carols, and love songs were also written and sung. Most of the works were written in “early modern” Spanish, because there were some words and sounds that had evolved from medieval Spanish; But that was about to change.

In the 16th century, writers’ words began to resemble the way Spanish words are spelled today. Works known as Lazarillo de Tormes were written, which broke the awkward spelling of the Spanish vocabulary. In the 17th century, modern Spanish words are fully recognizable in the famous work of Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote of La Mancha.

At this time, Spain also colonized parts of North America and all of Central and South America except Brazil. Spanish became even more important as a language, not only for Spain but for its colonies. Today, 400 million people speak Spanish in more than 20 countries. Modern Spanish includes many more words, accents, and dialects from all of these countries that were impacted by Spain.

The 11th century brought spelling changes to the Spanish language. Since the composition of The Poem of Mio Cid Until the last publications of the 21st century by Spanish and Latin American authors, linguistic alterations have been documented through written literature. That said, the Spanish language has evolved over time, probably more than any other Romance language, perhaps even most languages.