the languages or dialects spoken in the Peninsula before it became a Roman province little or nothing is known. Strabo p. 139, Casaub.) says that various dialects were in use in his time among the inhabitants of the Peninsula. The Phoenicians and Greeks who settled in Spain must also have introduced their own languages, whilst the Celts, who occupied the northern and western districts, spoke their own tongue. During the long period of Roman domina tion all these languages seem to have made room for the Latin, except in the northern part of the Peninsula, where the Basque language was always and is still spoken. The northern natious who invaded Spain in the 5th century made no effort to introduce their own tongues, but adopted that of the natives, and spoke Latin, which they corrupted by making the nouns indeclinable, and extending the use of pre positions.
Then came the Arabs, whose language at one time must have been very generally spoken in the Peninsula. Nearly two centuries after the taking of Toledo by Alfonso VL, Arabic was still spoken there in preference to the Castilian, and most legal writings, even between Christian parties, wore made in Arabic. Up to the end of the 13th century the kings of Aragon were in the habit of signing their names with the letters of the Arabic alphabet. On the taking of Sevilla by Fernando III., it was deemed necessary to translate the Gospels into Arabic, in order to instruct the Christian population of that city in the duties of religion, which, as well as their native language, they had completely forgotten.
Out of these heterogeneous elements the Castilian language, as the modern Spanish is properly called, was originally formed, though it would be difficult to say at what time it began to assume its present shape.
About the beginning of the 13th century three principal languages were spoken in the Peninsula. The Castilian (the Lengua Cnstellaua) prevailed exclusively in the two Castilea and Leon; the Catalonian, a dialect resembling the Provençal, or Limosin, of the south of France, was spoken in Catalonia, Aragon, part of Valencia, and the Balearic Islands; and, lastly, the Cantabrian, or Basque, still maintained its ground, though greatly corrupted, along the northern side of the Pyrenees. About the same time the l'ortugucse, which originated
in a mixture of the Galician dialect and the language spoken by the French who served under Henry of Beetuteou, became more distinct from the Castilian. [PORTUGAL.] How far the Arabia has contributed to the formation of the modern Spanish is a contested point among Spanish critics. That the Castilian language has borrowed a consider able number of its words from the Arabio is a fact beyond all doubt. If any one opens the Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana,' published by the Royal Academy of Spain, he will find that most words begin ning with al, or with the letters j, x, z, are of Arabic origin. The names of plants, flowers, drugs, minerals, furniture, dresses, weights and measures, Ike, are, with a few exceptions, all Arabio, although there are also corresponding names derived from the Latin. AU words relating to the different branches of the mechanical arts which were introdnced by the Moors into Spain are likewise borrowed from their language. In general, nouns of Arabic origin abound more than either adverbs or prepositions, and these in proportion are more numerous than the verbs. The connection of both languages would be still greater, if the writers of the best age of Spanish literature had not formed their style on the Latin, and avoided, as much as possible, words of Arabia origin; to which may be added, that when the Academicians compiled the above-mentioned dictionary, they left out many words authorised by use, which are found in the oldest Spanish works. It was about the beginning of the 16th century, and during the reigns of Fernando and Isabel and Carlos V., that the Castilian became the general language of the Peninsula, though works in Valencien, Catalonian, and Basque continued to be published from Limo to time, and those languages were and are still spoken by a large number of the inhabitants of Spain.