A brief history of Spanish - Ilan Stavans

譯者: Wei C. 審譯者: 柏陞 郭

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

公元前三世紀

the Romans conquered the Iberian Peninsula.

羅馬人佔領了伊比利半島

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

這個時代讓此地， 也就是今日的西班牙

催生出許多地區方言：

including Castilian, Catalan and Galician.

包括卡斯提爾、加泰隆尼亞 以及加利西亞語

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

其中之一在約 1500 年後 成為了西班牙語

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

而這段歷史將告訴我們 是哪個成為現代國際語言

During the Roman occupation,

在羅馬佔領時期

colloquial spoken Latin, often called “Vulgar Latin,”

口語的拉丁語 又通稱為「通俗拉丁語」

mixed with Indigenous languages.

其中包含著原住民語

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

據統計，約 75% 的現代西語詞彙 和句法結構都來自拉丁語

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

例如：動詞變化就與拉丁語相似

And like other Roman languages, nouns have gender:

也如同其他的拉丁語言 名詞具有性別之分

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

el sol，太陽，是陽性 而 la luna，月亮，是陰性

After the Roman Empire collapsed,

羅馬帝國垮台後

a series of other powers conquered the region.

許多強權先後征服伊比利地區

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

首先是公元五世紀的西哥德人

They spoke an eastern Germanic language

他們說的東日耳曼語

that would eventually become part of German

在日後變成了德語的一部份

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

這個語言也將一些詞帶到西語中

Then the Umayyad Caliphate ousted the Visigoths.

接著奧米亞王朝趕走了西哥德人

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

他們講的阿拉伯語 也深深影響到現代西語

over a thousand words come from Arabic.

有超過一千個詞是從阿語來的

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

這些詞通常以「a」或「z」音開頭

and sometimes include an “h.”

中間有時會加入「h」音。

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

1492 年，天主教會 透過兩位君主鞏固政權

Isabella and Ferdinand,

伊莎貝拉和費迪南

expelling Muslims and Jews,

他們驅逐了穆斯林與猶太人

combining the distinct regional kingdoms into one nation,

將兩個獨立王國 合併成為一個國家

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

採其中之一的方言為官方語言：

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

也就是來自卡斯提爾王國 的卡斯提爾語

which was centrally located in Spain and home to Madrid.

它位於西班牙的中心 也是馬德里的所在地

Thereafter Castellano became Español, or Spanish.

之後卡斯提爾語 變成西班牙語，或稱西語

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

但 1492 年那時說的是古西語 與當今的西語十分不同

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

同年，哥倫布橫越大西洋

marking the start of the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

是謂西班牙佔領美洲的開端

The Indigenous population of the Americas

據住在美洲的原住民說著

spoke an estimated 2,000 different languages.

約 2000 多種不同語言

Over the next few decades,

經過接下來數十年

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

大多數的原住民 都被強迫改說西語

Still, words from Indigenous languages became part of Spanish.

但原住民語的部分詞彙 仍成為西語的一部份

From Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire,

阿茲特克帝國的納瓦特爾語

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

引入了有「ch」和「y」發音的詞 如「蝗蟲」和「土狼」

From Quechua, a language spoken in the Peruvian Andes,

還有從秘魯安地斯山區所講的 克丘亞（印加）語

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

引入了有「ch」的詞 如「庭院」、「毛帽」和「斗篷」

Some of these words describe things

這些詞描述以前不存在於 西語詞庫中的事物

that hadn’t existed in the Spanish lexicon before,

while others replaced existing Spanish words even in Spain.

另外還有些詞則取代了 原本的西班牙語

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

1605 年塞凡提斯 發表第一部分的《唐吉訶德》

the language was arguably more similar to modern Spanish

小說裡使用的西語 與現代西語相似度

than plays of one of his contemporaries, William Shakespeare,

比起同期莎士比亞在劇作用的 英語對上現代英語還要高

were to modern English.

Starting in the 18th century,

到了 18 世紀

French language and culture were extremely fashionable in Spain,

法語與其文化在西班牙甚為風行

and later Hispanic America.

這個風潮之後也傳播到拉丁美洲

While the two languages already had commonalities

由於兩種語言都源自拉丁文

from their shared roots in Latin,

因此彼此間有許多共通點

Spanish gained new words from French during this period.

西班牙語也在此時 從法語中獲得許多新詞

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

19 世紀時，中南美洲的人民

people revolted to gain independence from Spain.

試圖推翻西班牙政府獲得自主權

In the newly sovereign nations,

在新的主權獨立國家中

people continued to speak the language of their former oppressors.

人民仍繼續使用著 前任壓迫者的語言

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

如今約有 4.15 億人 居住在拉丁美洲

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

西班牙語是 21 個國家 還有波多黎各的官方語言

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

截至 2021 年 只有英語、中文和印度語的使用者

較西語來的多

How does a language with so many speakers around the world

為什麼在世界各地 有如此多使用者的語言

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

沒有像通俗拉丁語一樣 分化成不同語言？

There's no easy answer to this question.

對此並沒有一個簡單的答案

Other languages that spread through colonialism, like French,

其他隨殖民而 傳播的語言，如法語

have mixed with Indigenous languages to form entirely new ones.

也已混合著原住民語 形成新語言

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

有人就爭論，混合西語和 英語的西班牙英語（Spanglish）

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

是個獨特或是 已經要獨立的新語言

But although a person in Buenos Aires occasionally might use words

但即使布宜諾斯艾利斯的人 偶爾會用些

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

波哥大或墨西哥城的人聽不懂的詞

Spanish retains enough unity of syntax, grammar, and vocabulary

西班牙語仍然保留 句法、文法和詞彙上的統一性

to remain one language.

來繼續保持為一種語言