A History of the Spanish Lexicon : A Linguistic Perspective

Written from the twin perspectives of linguistic and cultural change, this pioneering book describes the language inherited from Latin and how it was then influenced by the Visigothic and Arabic invasions and later by contact with Old French, Old Provençal, English and, not least, with the indigenous languages of South and Central America.

This history of the Spanish lexicon is written from the interacting perspectives of linguistic and cultural change and in the light of advances in the study of language contact and lexical change. The author describes the language inherited from spoken Latin in the Iberian Peninsula during six centuries of Roman occupation and examines the degree to which it imported words from the languages - of which only Basque survives - of pre-Roman Spain. He then shows how Germanic words were imported either indirectly through Latin or Old French or directly by contact with the Visigoths. He describes the importation of Arabisms following the eighth-century Arab conquest of Spain, distinguishing those documented in medieval sources from those adopted for everyday use, many of which survive in modern Spanish. He considers the influence of Old French and Old Provençal and identifies late direct and indirect borrowings from Latin, including the Italian elements taken up during the Renaissance. After outlining minor influences from languages such as Flemish, Portuguese, and Catalan, Professor Dworkin examines the effects on the lexicon of contact between Spanish and the indigenous languages of South and Central America, and the impact of contact with English. The book is aimed at advanced students and scholars of Spanish linguistics and will interest specialists in Hispanic literary and cultural studies.