A brief history of Spanish - Ilan Stavans

翻译人员: Siyu Lian 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

Beginning in the 3rd century, before the coming era,

从公元前 3 世纪起，

the Romans conquered the Iberian Peninsula.

古罗马人占领了伊比利亚半岛。

This period gave rise to several regional languages in the area that's now Spain,

现在是西班牙的这个地区 在这一时期产生了几种地区性语言，

including Castilian, Catalan and Galician.

包括卡斯蒂利亚语、 加泰罗尼亚语和加利西亚语。

One of these would become Spanish— but not for another 1,500 years.

其中的一种后来变成了西班牙语， 但是是在 1500 年以后了。

Those years tell the origin story of what’s become a global modern language.

这些年讲述了一门已经成为 全球现代语言的起源故事。

During the Roman occupation,

在罗马占领时期，

colloquial spoken Latin, often called “Vulgar Latin,”

拉丁语口语， 通常称为 “粗俗拉丁语”。

mixed with Indigenous languages.

与原住民的语言混在了一起。

Approximately 75% of modern Spanish comes from Latin, including syntactic rules.

现代的西班牙语约有 75% 来自于拉丁语，包括句法规则。

For instance, verbs are conjugated in a similar way as in Latin.

比如，西班牙语动词的变位方式 与拉丁语相似。

And like other Roman languages, nouns have gender:

而且和其他罗马语言一样， 名词也分性别：

el sol, the sun, is masculine, whereas la luna, the moon, is feminine.

el sol，太阳，是阳性的。

而 la luna，月亮， 则是阴性的。

After the Roman Empire collapsed,

在罗马帝国瓦解之后，

a series of other powers conquered the region.

其他的一些势力占领了此地区。

First came the Visigoths starting in the 5th century of the common era.

先是公元 5 世纪的西哥特人，

They spoke an eastern Germanic language

他们讲一种东部的日耳曼语言，

that would eventually become part of German

后来变成德语的一部分，

and lent a few words to the language that would become Spanish.

并为后来成为西班牙语的语言 提供了一些单词。

Then the Umayyad Caliphate ousted the Visigoths.

后来，倭马亚哈里发 赶走了西哥特人。

They spoke Arabic, which left a strong mark on modern Spanish:

他们讲阿拉伯语，并在现代 西班牙语中留下了强大的影响：

over a thousand words come from Arabic.

超过一千个单词来自阿拉伯语。

These often have a starting “a” or “z” sound,

这些词多数以“a”或者 “z”的发音开头，

and sometimes include an “h.”

有时包括“h”的发音。

In 1492, the Catholic Church consolidated its power through two monarchs,

1492 年， 天主教会通过 两个君主伊莎贝拉和费迪南德

Isabella and Ferdinand,

巩固了权力。

expelling Muslims and Jews,

他们通过驱赶穆斯林和犹太人，

combining the distinct regional kingdoms into one nation,

将不同地区性王国合并为一个国家，

and adopting one of the local languages as the official state language.

并采用了当地的一门语言 作为国家的官方语言。

That language was Castellano, or Castilian, from the Kingdom of Castile,

这种语言是来自于卡斯蒂利亚 王国的卡斯蒂利亚语，

which was centrally located in Spain and home to Madrid.

它位于西班牙的中心位置， 是马德里的所在地。

Thereafter Castellano became Español, or Spanish.

卡斯蒂利亚语之后成为了班牙语（Español）， 也称西班牙语（Spanish）。

But the Spanish of 1492 was Old Spanish, very different from Spanish today.

但 1492 年的西班牙人 是旧西班牙人，

与今日的西班牙人非常不同。

That same year, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean,

同年，克里斯托弗·哥伦布 （Christopher Columbus）横跨大西洋，

marking the start of the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

标志着西班牙对美洲征服的开始。

The Indigenous population of the Americas

美洲的原住民们讲大约

spoke an estimated 2,000 different languages.

2000 种不同的语言。

Over the next few decades,

在接下来的数十年里，

most of them were forced to adopt Spanish at the expense of their own languages.

大部分的原住民被迫放弃 自己的语言，学习西班牙语。

Still, words from Indigenous languages became part of Spanish.

但是来自原住民的单词还是 成为了西班牙语的一部分。

From Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire,

阿兹特克帝国的语言纳瓦特尔语

came words with “ch” and “y” like “chapulin” and “coyote.”

提供了带有“ch”和“y”的词， 如“chapulin”和“coyote”。

From Quechua, a language spoken in the Peruvian Andes,

秘鲁安第斯山脉的一种语言克丘亚语

came words with “ch” like “cancha,” “chullo,” and “poncho.”

提供了带有“ch”的词， 如 “cancha”、“chullo”和“poncho”。

Some of these words describe things

这些词描述了一些

that hadn’t existed in the Spanish lexicon before,

之前不存在于 西班牙语词典里的事物，

while others replaced existing Spanish words even in Spain.

另一些词替换了现存的西班牙单词， 即使是在西班牙也是如此。

By the time Miguel de Cervantes published the first part of “Don Quixote” in 1605,

米格尔·德·塞万提斯 （Miguel de Cervantes）

在 1605 年出版 《堂吉诃德》第一部分时，

the language was arguably more similar to modern Spanish

其语言与现代西班牙语的相似程度

than plays of one of his contemporaries, William Shakespeare,

超过了其同时代 威廉·莎士比亚的戏剧

were to modern English.

与现代英语的相似程度。

Starting in the 18th century,

从 18 世纪开始，

French language and culture were extremely fashionable in Spain,

法国语言和文化在西班牙很流行，

and later Hispanic America.

以及在后来的西班牙裔美国人中。

While the two languages already had commonalities

虽然这两种语言已经

from their shared roots in Latin,

有拉丁语根的共同点，

Spanish gained new words from French during this period.

但西班牙语在这一时期 从法语中获得了新的单词。

In the 19th century, all over Central and South America,

19 世纪，中美洲和南美洲

people revolted to gain independence from Spain.

各地的人们反抗西班牙， 从而获得独立。

In the newly sovereign nations,

在这个新的主权国家，

people continued to speak the language of their former oppressors.

人们继续讲着他们 以往压迫者的语言，

Today, there are approximately 415 million inhabitants of Hispanic America.

时至今日，大约有 4.15 亿 西班牙裔美国居民。

Spanish is the official language of 21 countries and Puerto Rico.

西班牙语是 21 个国家 和波多黎各的官方语言。

As of 2021, only English, Mandarin, and Hindi have more speakers.

在 2021 年，只有英语、 普通话和印地语

比西班牙语有更多的使用者。

How does a language with so many speakers around the world

一种在全世界有这么多 使用者的语言，

not break apart into new languages the way Vulgar Latin did?

为何没有像粗俗拉丁语那样 分裂成新的语言？

There's no easy answer to this question.

这个问题没有简单的答案。

Other languages that spread through colonialism, like French,

其他语言传播于殖民主义， 比如法语，

have mixed with Indigenous languages to form entirely new ones.

和原住民的语言融合 变成一门新的语言。

Some would argue that Spanglish, a mixture of Spanish and English,

一些人认为西班牙英语 （西班牙语和英语的混合）

is a distinct language or on its way to becoming one.

是一门单独的语言， 或是在慢慢变成这样。

But although a person in Buenos Aires occasionally might use words

尽管布宜诺斯艾利斯的人 偶尔可能会使用一些

that aren’t fully intelligible to someone in Bogotá or Mexico City,

对波哥大或墨西哥城的人来说 并不完全能理解的单词。

Spanish retains enough unity of syntax, grammar, and vocabulary

西班牙语在句法、语法和单词方面 保留了足够的统一性

to remain one language.

来继续作为一门语言。