History of the Portuguese Language
As part of the Romance family of languages Portuguese traces its
origins back to the Roman colonization of the Iberian Peninsular
beginning in around 218BC. As with many of the Romance languages,
Portuguese is essentially Vulgar Latin that has evolved over time
through the influence of other languages.
The Iberian Peninsular was inhabited a long time prior to the
Roman invasion however little evidence of the various languages
spoken by these ancient peoples can be found in modern
Portuguese.
Between 409AD and 711AD the grip of the Roman Empire on the
Iberian Peninsular was weakening and it was invaded by various
Germanic tribes. The Germanic influence on Portuguese is mainly
seen in words related to the military such as guerra - war and
roubar - to steal.
The Moors Invasion
In 711AD the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsular and as a
result Arabic became the official language of the region. Although
the ordinary people of the region still used their Romance language
throughout this period, there are a few Portuguese words of Arabic
origin still in use today. These are mainly related to food,
agriculture and place names, with Algarve - the west and Albufeira
- the lagoon, both coming from Arabic.
In the proceeding years Christians from the ancient region of
Galicia in the north gradually expelled the Arab invaders and in
1149 Portugal was recognised as a country. In 1290 the first
Portuguese University was created and it was decided that
Portuguese (then known as the Vulgar Language) would be used
instead of Latin.
Portuguese Colonization
The growth of the Portuguese Empire between the 1400-1600's
brought Portuguese to much of Asia, Africa and South America. In
Sri Lanka for example many Kings spoke Portuguese fluently and
nobles took Portuguese names. These names can still be seen in Sri
Lanka today with Dilhara Fernando and Chamara Silva both stars of
the national cricket team.
Modern Portuguese
The language we consider as modern Portuguese developed from the
16th century onwards. From this period the Portuguese language was
influence by the technological and medical advances of the age and
as a result incorporated many Classical Latin and Greek words.
In to more modern times the Portuguese language incorporated
more and more English words, especially those related to
Information Technology. The sheer volume of these new words led to
the creation in 1990 of a commission composed of representatives
from Lusophone nations to regulate this new vocabulary and avoid
the common problem of different words being used for the same
objects.
The Romance Language Family
