Is Catalan Similar to Spanish? An Historical Perspective
Barcelona and Granada
Table of Contents
For anyone learning Spanish that has a broader interest in the Iberian Peninsula, the prospect of learning Catalan is appealing, and many thus find themselves wondering ‘is Catalan similar to Spanish?’. In this article, I’ll guide you through the historical journey of the two languages to highlight the things they have in common and the things that set them apart.
While the two languages share Latin roots and have significant similarities, they have their own pronunciation, some differences in grammar, and even have many differences in vocabulary - even though the latter is also one of the areas of greatest similarity. Understanding these differences is crucial for language learners, whether you're exploring Catalan for its cultural richness or aiming to deepen your understanding of the region's history.
If you're curious about learning Catalan and want to save yourself a lot of time through not having to spend hours looking for resources and through having a convenient, affordable, and enjoyable plan for learning the language, then I'd recommend the How to Learn Catalan Guide. It provides you with everything you need to learn Catalan - focusing on free, online resources you can use wherever you are. If you're only after resources for learning Catalan, then I'd suggest using The Best Catalan Learning Resources.
If you're learning Spanish, I'd also recommend tools like the best resources for learning Spanish or the How to Learn Spanish Guide.
Overview of Catalan and Spanish
Both stem from Latin roots, yet their unique evolution makes them distinct languages. To better understand their relationship, let's explore their classifications and historical paths.
Language Classification
Both Catalan and Spanish belong to the Romance language family, which includes languages like French, Italian, Portuguese, Occitan, and Romanian. This shared origin means they have comparable structures and features, much like siblings in a linguistic family tree. However, their geographical and cultural contexts set them apart.
Spanish (or Castellano) is the official language of Spain and many countries in Latin America, making it one of the most spoken languages globally.
Catalan, in contrast, is primarily spoken in Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, small enclaves of France, and the town of Alghero on the island of Sardinia, Italy. It has a smaller speaker base but holds official status in these regions.
Catalan isn’t a dialect of Spanish. It developed independently and shares more similarities with languages like Occitan or French than with Spanish. This subtle yet important distinction contributes to the ongoing identity and cultural pride of Catalan speakers.
Historical Development
Understanding the history of these languages reveals how historical events shaped their distinct paths. Both Catalan and Spanish emerged from Vulgar Latin, which was spoken across the Roman Empire (although distinctions between Vulgar Latin and Classical Latin - the 'proper' form spoken and written at the Roman Senate - are now thought to be far more blurred than was previously thought). As the empire fragmented, regional variations of the language grew into the various Romance languages.
Key historical milestones:
Catalan: Catalan flourished under the medieval Crown of Aragon, becoming the literary and administrative language of the time. However, its use declined after the unification of Spain in the 15th century. Political suppression during Franco's regime also stifled Catalan, but it has since experienced a revival.
Spanish: Spanish became the dominant language of Spain during and after the Reconquista. The Castilian dialect evolved into modern Spanish, spreading widely due to Spain's colonial ventures.
Whilst it's important to note that the categorisation of Vulgar Latin vs Classical Latin has been called into question by recent scholarship, it's still a useful enough introduction to thinking of the Latin language as having a dynamic form that was spoken across the Roman Empire but with regional nuances. I'll therefore continue to refer to this as Vulgar Latin for the sake of simplicity and familiarity. Just be aware that if you dive deeper into the history, more subtle terminology will become apparent.
If you’re interested in exploring the history of Catalan and Spanish further, the How to Learn Catalan Guide contains a detailed section called ‘A Short History of Catalan’, whilst the How to Learn Spanish Guide contains a detailed section called 'A Short History of Spanish'.
The Development of Latin
Throughout the Roman Empire, Vulgar Latin prevailed as the lingua franca. Though there were many varieties of the language, they remained mutually comprehensible until the ninth century, long after the fall of Rome in 476 CE. An interesting feature of Vulgar Latin was that, despite its varieties, people throughout the distant provinces of the Roman Empire shaped it with common changes from Classical Latin. The number of cases was reduced, and the ‘neuter’ gender was removed. To facilitate the abandonment of the wearingly precise case system, an unspoken rule developed, whereby sentences were structured according to the subject, verb, object order found in Romance languages today, whilst articles and prepositions were added to make speech smoother still.
The tendency of Catalan (and Castilian Spanish) to pronounce v as b began here, with Classical Latin words like taves becoming tabis (corruption) in Vulgar Latin, whose speakers also started adding a vowel to the beginning of certain words, so that sperare and spiritus became the Catalan forms we see today - esperar (to wait) and esperit (spirit). The people of Hispania also began fusing prepositions and articles, producing the Catalan word després (after) and the Spanish word después (after), which come from de+ex+post. The word ningulus was formed from singulus (one) and nullus (none), which is why the Catalan word for ‘nobody’ is ningú and the Spanish equivalent is ninguno.
A fortunate change introduced with Vulgar Latin was the abandonment of Classical Latin’s haphazard approach to forming adverbs. Although some adverbs formed simply - absolutus (complete) would be absolute - exceptions such as velox (rapid) becoming velociter made adverbs an unnecessary nuisance for speakers of Vulgar Latin. As such, the process was standardised in Rome’s provinces with the suffix mens, which means ‘in a mind’. Speakers of Vulgar Latin thus formed the adverbs of absolutus and velox with this suffix, becoming absolumens and velocimens. To this day, the majority of Romance languages use this Vulgar Latin structure - Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, and Italian use mente, whilst French, Catalan, and Occitan use ment. This is useful for English speakers wishing to learn Catalan, or indeed any of these languages. For English words ending with -ly, the Catalan equivalent will usually end in -ment. For example, ‘normal’ happens to be the same in Catalan, normal, so ‘normally’ is normalment. Likewise, the Catalan word for ‘quick’ or ‘fast’ is ràpid, so ‘quickly’ is ràpidament. The same applies to Spanish, albeit with the ending -mente. For example, ‘normal’ also happens to be the same in Spanish, normal, so ‘normally’ is normalmente, whilst the Spanish word for ‘quick’ or ‘fast’ is rápido, so ‘quickly’ is rápidamente.
This period also saw the emergence of more key features common to both Catalan and Spanish, namely the use of two verbs for 'to be' (ser and estar in both Catalan and Spanish) and the appearance of irregular verbs like 'to go' (anar in Catalan, ir in Spanish).
None of the above should detract from Classical Latin’s contribution to the Latin languages we see today. Classical Latin can shed light on social changes, as well as how people of the time viewed the world. For example, that ‘casa’ came to replace ‘domus’ (home) suggests increased ruralisation during the decline of the Roman Empire, as ‘casa’ had referred to a ‘hut’ or ‘rustic cottage’ during the classical period. Today, casa means ‘home’ or ‘house’ in both Catalan and Spanish.
The word ‘pavilion’ comes from the Romans’ belief that military tents resembled the open wings of a butterfly. The Latin ‘papilio’ (butterfly), after being applied to military tents, produced the Catalan equivalent we see today - pavelló (pavilion). Today, the Catalan word for ‘butterfly’ is papallona, although the Spanish term eventually became mariposa.
The Catalan word pelegrí (pilgrim) and the Spanish words peregrina (pilgrim - feminine) and peregrino (pilgrim - masculine) all come from the Latin ‘peregrinus’, originally referring to a ’foreigner’. That it came to be associated with pilgrims illuminates the growing number of foreign visitors to Rome in the centuries that followed its fall in 476 CE.
One of the key sources I read when researching the history of the Catalan language was Història de la llengua catalana, by Antoni Ferrando. For a shorter read, I’d recommend Història de la llengua catalana dels origens al segle XV, by Maria-Lluïsa Pazos
Photo by the Author
Hispania Tarraconensis
The Punic Wars fought in the third century BCE between Rome and the prosperous Phoenician colony of Carthage saw the Romans eventually triumph over the Carthaginian leader, Hannibal - famous for leading an army and thirty-seven elephants over the Pyrenees and the Alps. The Carthaginians took their name from the original city of Carthage in modern day Tunisia, and founded a city of the same name in southern Spain, in what is now Cartagena. Though Hannibal led his forces to a series of victories over the Romans - who at that point were still cementing their hold over the Italian peninsula - by 201 BCE, and after over sixty years of intermittent wars, the Romans defeated the Carthaginians. The province of Hispania became the empire’s first overseas colony four years later.
Rome did not conquer Gaul - modern day France - for another 150 years, and did not conquer Dacia - modern day Romania - for another 150 years after that. The Latin spoken in Rome at the time of these later conquests had thus changed from the Latin that first crossed to Hispania during the Punic Wars. As such, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan languages contain what linguists refer to as ‘archaisms’. For example, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan words for ‘more’ are más, mais, and més respectively, whereas the French and Italian equivalents are plus and più. This is because, at the time of the Roman victory over Carthage, the Latin for ‘more’ was still magis, and had not yet become plus. For the same reasons, the Spanish and Portuguese words for ‘sand’ are arena and areia, but sable and sabbia in French and Italian. There are of course exceptions to these trends, highlighted by the fact the Catalan word for ‘sand’ is sorra, akin to French and Italian.
Though the weight of its significance is perhaps hard to assess, such exceptions perhaps derive from the way in which Rome divided the peninsula and how the proximity to Rome of these regions shaped the development of Latin in each area. Once Hispania officially became a Roman colony in 197 BCE, it was divided into two provinces - Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior. The former comprised what is now Andalusia, whilst the latter included the rest of the peninsula’s Mediterranean coast, Aragon and the Balearic Islands. By 27 BCE, the remit of Hispania Citerior had been expanded to include the central plateau of the peninsula, as well as the northern provinces, and became known as Hispania Tarraconensis. In the same year, the province of Lusitania was established in what is now Portugal and parts of western Spain, including Extremadura. By 14 BCE, Hispania Ulterior had become Hispania Baetica.
There are various other historical processes - social, cultural, economic, political - to acknowledge in the development of the various Latin languages of the peninsula, but it could nevertheless be said that Catalan derives from the Vulgar Latin of Hispania Tarraconensis. Each province experienced romanisation in different ways. Baetica was romanised, and thus urbanised, earlier than Tarraconensis, and therefore used a more archaic form of Latin. It was also colonised by Latin nobles, who brought with them what was considered to be a more ‘cultured’ form of the language - presumably in reference to their use of Classical Latin. Though Classical Latin will have been used by Latin nobles for written correspondence, Vulgar Latin is likely to have prevailed within the comfort of their own homes.
In contrast to Baetica, the province of Tarraconensis was colonised by veteran soldiers and the ‘lower’ classes. This reflected the Roman view of the province as a primarily strategic region, as the northeast of the peninsula was the closest point to Rome, and thus provided a natural route of communication with the capital. This proximity to Rome, which was shared by the south of France, ensured that certain linguistic developments in the Latin of the capital spread to these regions. Though the construction of the Via Augusta connected Baetica to Tarraconensis, the Latin of the former remained relatively static compared with the more innovative language of the peninsula’s northeastern province.
The fall of Rome inverted the consequences of these geographical factors. Once the centre of the empire was lost, it was the regions closest to the old capital - such as the south of France and Tarraconensis - that would develop a more conservative linguistic streak, seeking to remain faithful to the Latin identity to which they felt attached. Provinces further afield, such as Baetica, were the first to experience divergence from the ’spirit’ of the language, as their geographical realities meant they were less attached to the notion of Latin identity.
This is how the argument put forward in some circles goes, anyway. It shouldn’t be taken too literally, for various reasons. Dialects of Vulgar Latin, or indeed of any language, have sometimes developed differences from village to village, let alone region to region. As such, it’s important to remember the above are mere generalisations, and that corresponding dates and apparent influences are somewhat arbitrary. It’s also worth remembering that Latin endured throughout the areas of the peninsula it had been established, and therefore that any theories regarding apparent lack of attachment to a Latin identity are vague, difficult to prove, and neglect the fact the inhabitants of Baetica continued to speak forms of Vulgar Latin after the fall of Rome. In short, it’s important to note there will have been plenty of exceptions to these apparent trends, and that the trends themselves don’t provide the full story.
Nevertheless, the above is significant, even as a mere generalisation, for the following reason. Catalan, though certainly similar to Spanish and Portuguese, is most closely related to Occitan - the language spoken in the south of France. If you'd like to learn more about the history of Occitan, I'd recommend reading Occitan Language vs French: Key Differences and History, whilst the Get to Know Occitan page provides links to plenty of resources for learning the Occitan language.
Carcassonne, south of France
Photo by Alain Bonnardeaux on Unsplash
Proto-Romances
The Romans lost Hispania in 404 CE, but Vulgar Latin continued to thrive in the provinces of the decaying empire. By the eighth century, the lingua franca had developed into an array of dialects that are now referred to as Proto-Romances. Though the Visigoths took control of Hispania between the sixth and eighth centuries, the dominance of these dialects of Vulgar Latin increased, each thriving in its own distinct territory or province.
The dialects found on the peninsula are known as Ibero-Romances, and some of these dialects developed into regional languages - such as Galician - that are still spoken today, whilst two others became Portuguese and Spanish. In fact, Portuguese and Galician were considered the same language, Galician-Portuguese, before they began a divergence in the fourteenth century that has continued to this day.
Catalan, however, has been the subject of much debate. From the sixteenth century, it began to be referred to as llemosí (Limousin), as it had come to be considered a dialect of Occitan originating from the Limousin region of southwest France. Other linguists and philologists, particularly from Spain, contested this theory, affirming Catalan to be an Ibero-Romance language. A more current suggestion is one of Catalan as a llengua pont (bridge language), in which can be found traits of both Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance languages, such as the lexicon and phonetics of the former, with the morphology and syntax of the latter.
Language categorisation could perhaps be harnessed for political means by certain groups, but its use is generally confined to illustrating the historical development of languages. As such, the exact categorisation is perhaps unimportant, as the categorisations are fairly arbitrary themselves. This being said, the work of Germà Colon has shown that Catalan’s lexicon is more closely related to Occitan and French, and that the language is therefore of the Gallo-Romance family. For example, Catalan quantifiers differ from Spanish, and are almost identical to Occitan. The terms res (nothing), qualsevol (any), quelcom (something), massa (too much), and mateix (same) differ substantially from their Spanish equivalents - nada, cualquier, algo, demasiado, and mismo.
Catalan bears a close resemblance to the other Latin languages - just as the other Latin languages bear a close resemblance to Catalan. The most succinct summary is provided by Maria-Lluïsa Pazos, who considers Catalan and Occitan to be twins, just as Galician and Portuguese could be described in the same way. Without wanting to exhaust the analogy, the same reasoning would probably mean Portuguese and Spanish are brothers. As for Catalan and Spanish, perhaps they're cousins? Although such categorisations are not really important. What matters is that the two languages are similar.
The Contribution of Arabic to Catalan and Spanish
Between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of Granada in 1492, the Arabic language left an indelible mark on the peninsula. Though the Arabs were the driving force of Muslim expansion during this period, the conquerors were Berbers from North Africa, speaking Tamazight. Nevertheless, Arabic was the language of Islam, and so it was Arabic that would have a significant impact on Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish. The nomenclature of this can be somewhat chaotic. The Christians in Hispania called their conquerors Moriscos (Moors), mistakenly thinking they hailed from Mauritania. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll refer to them as Arabs from here.
Certain Catalan (and Spanish) words for agriculture and architecture are derived from Arabic, most notably séquia (irrigation ditch) and tamís (sieve), as well as nòria (ferris wheel), safareig (laundry), rajola (tile), and magatzem (warehouse). Certain words for foods have Arabic origins, a legacy of the skilled agronomy they brought to the peninsula. Notable examples include arròs (rice), llimona (lemon), gessamí (jasmine), and taronja (orange). Arabic prowess in public administration and military technology are the reason for duana (customs), and alcalde (mayor). Household items such as gerro (vase), safata (tray), and catifa (carpet) are also of Arabic provenance.
Spanish words for irrigation are also often derived from Arabic, most notably acequia (irrigation ditch), arcaduz (pipe), noria (waterwheel), and zanja (ditch). The Arabic word for olive, al-zeitun, is what gives Spanish its word for olive oil - aceite. There’s also colours, where Arabic bequeathed Spanish words like azul (blue) and añil (indigo). The popular expression, ojalá (I hope so), used as a casual interjection in Mexican Spanish, comes from the Arabic wa sa llah (God willing). As with Catalan, Spanish words for foods often have Arabic origins, including arroz (rice), limón (lemon), jazmín (jasmine) or naranja (orange), and zanahoria (carrot). Words relating to public administration and military technology include barrio (district of a town), aduana (customs), and alcalde (mayor).
Arabic has also contributed an array of place names and surnames to Catalan-speaking areas, particularly in the Valencian counties and on the island of Menorca. Some of the most notable include Alaquàs and Almúnia. In Catalan, the former means els arcs (the arches), whilst the latter means el verger (the orchard). Arabic has also contributed various Valencian and Mallorcan surnames, including Alfara, Borja, Mesquida, Ràfol, Massot, and Seguer.
A defining feature of the Arabic words that entered Spanish and Portuguese was the retention of the Arabic article al. The Arabs also conquered Sicily, and for a time southern France, yet both French and Italian dropped the Arabic article from the words they borrowed - a tendency often shared by Catalan. This is why the Arabic word for cotton, al-qutun, became algodón in Spanish and algodão in Portuguese, but cotó, coton, and cotone in Catalan, French, and Italian. The same happened with the Arabic word as-sukkar (sugar), which is azúcar in Spanish, açúcar in Portuguese, but sucre in both Catalan and French, as well as zucchero in Italian.
Some of the Arabic words that made it into Catalan were in fact Latin words that had been adopted by Arabic. The Catalan word tonyina is from Arabic, which had in turn derived it from thunnus, the Latin for ‘tuna’.
The Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula also played a key role in the divergence of Catalan from the Ibero-Romance dialects. The Pyrenees had provided the terrain of guerrilla resistance to the invasion, and the Frankish victory over the Arabs at the Battle of Tours in 732 began a reversal in military fortunes. In 785, the inhabitants of Girona handed the city over to Charlemagne, and the Franks were soon in possession of Urgell, Pallars, Ribagorça, Vic, Cardona, and Casserres, before finally taking Barcelona in 801.
The Frankish war with the Arabs was thus hugely significant for the development of Catalan, as it meant the north of Catalonia was under the direct influence of the Arabic language for less than a century. In contrast, Valencia and Andalusia remained under Arabic influence for five and eight centuries respectively. The north of Catalonia was therefore one of the least arabised, and thus most romanised, regions of the peninsula. Compounding this was the dominion of the Franks, which ensured northern Catalonia’s ties to the south of France were cemented further.
The influence of Arabic therefore varied greatly within the Catalan-speaking areas of today. The Balearic Islands, and particularly the Valencian counties south of Barcelona, incorporated far more Arabic terms than the north of Catalonia, as these were not conquered from the Arabs until the thirteenth century, and thousands of ‘Moors’ lived in Valencia until the expulsion of the sixteenth century.
Some linguists suggest that Arabic terms only entered Catalan at a later period, via Spanish and Portuguese. Whilst it’s true that Arabic’s lexical contribution to Catalan was far less than it was to Spanish and Portuguese, it is an area that has been relatively neglected by linguists. What can be said with more certainty, however, is that many of the Arabic terms that entered Catalan will likely have done so through Valencia.
Alhambra, Granada, Spain
Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas on Unsplash
Catalan and Occitan
By the twelfth century, the poetry of the Occitan-speaking troubadours had spread throughout the Catalan-speaking counties. Such was the esteem in which the troubadours were held, Occitan became the language of poetry in Catalonia until the fifteenth century. In the process, various Occitan words entered the Catalan lexicon, including banya (horn), coratge (courage), daurar (to glide), ermità (hermit), and goig (joy).
Such is the similarity between Catalan and Occitan, contemporary poets hailing from Catalonia considered themselves part of a cultural area that extended from Santa Maria del Pui in the French Central Massif, to Lleida in Catalonia. As had been the case during the time of Hispania Tarraconensis, the Pyrenees were seen as a part of regional identity, rather than a barrier to unity. Though Catalonian poets produced less than a tenth of the Occitan poetry written during this period, some, such as Guerau de Cabrera, Berenguer de Palol, and Cerverí de Girona, were important contributors. Though from Catalonia, it’s worth remembering the work of these poets belongs to the cannon of Occitan, rather than Catalan, literature.
Despite the similarity between Catalan and Occitan, it’s important to remember they are separate languages. Troubadours from the south of France were known to reproach Catalonian poets for any phonetic errors in their rhymes. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the Catalan poet, Ramon Vidal de Besalú, had to write a treatise in Occitan helping his compatriots to correct the inaccuracies in their poetry. This work, entitled Razós, was based on the Limousin dialect of Limoges, and was significant in contributing to the myth of nomenclature that came to associate Catalan as the same tongue between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Following in the footsteps of Razós was Jofré de Foixà’s 1290 publication of Regles, a work outlining the differences between Catalan and Occitan, written in the latter. A final point worth noting is that troubadour poetry was confined to the privileged classes, and that the language of the people in Catalonia was Catalan.
The Rise of Aragon
The origins of the name Catalan are unknown, with too many theories to be mentioned here. Suffice to say, a form of the name Catalonia was being used by the eleventh century. It took until the thirteenth century for examples of texts written entirely in Catalan to appear, with the only previous examples having been occasional Catalan words within Latin documents.
Though it’s impossible to know the intricacies of such developments, a key factor in Catalan’s emergence as a literary language was the fall of Occitan, and the almost simultaneous expansion of Aragon, and thus Catalonia, as a Mediterranean power. Predating this expansion was Catalonian maritime commerce, in which merchants and sailors had been using Catalan since at least the eleventh century. This spoken use of Catalan beyond the region’s borders can be assumed due to the fact that relatively few people knew Latin. The Ordinances dels corredors de Llotja, published in 1271, are evidence of Catalan’s use in commerce, highlighting a detailed knowledge of the language that suggests a long oral tradition.
Though the defeat to the French at Muret (1213) and the Treaty of Corbeil ended Catalonian aspirations in the south of France, Jaume I turned his attention to the lands south of Catalonia, in a period of conquest that would define the Catalan linguistic frontiers we see today - bringing the language to Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
Mallorca was taken in 1229, followed by Ibiza (Eivissa in Catalan) six years later, but Menorca wasn’t conquered until 1288, by Jaume’s grandson, Alfonso III. In 1235, Jaume began the Catalonian conquest of the Valencian counties, taking Valencia itself three years later. The changing borders were the subject of disagreement between Aragon and Castile, and the issue wasn’t resolved until the Treaty of Almizra in 1244, which ratified the Port of Biar as the boundary between the respective conquests.
Medieval Catalan
The spoken dialects of Catalan will have varied from region to region, and from city to city - just as they do today. Nevertheless, a striking feature of medieval Catalan is the unity of the written language. When reading medieval Catalan texts in isolation from their context, it is difficult to determine whether authors hailed from Roussillon, Girona, Valencia, or Mallorca - such is the unity of the written language, lacking in significant dialectal variation. Catalan was thus the most unified written Latin language for around three centuries.
This unified, written Catalan did not emanate from poetry. It wasn’t until the fifteenth century that troubadour poems came to be written entirely in Catalan, with Ausiàs March being the first to do so. Rather, written Catalan was based on prose. Poetry was confined to the privileged classes of the court, and so prose became the form of literature through which a written Catalan befitting the majority of the population could flourish.
Though history too often attributes developments to the contribution of individuals, and particularly ‘great men’, the work of the Mallorcan, Ramon Llull, was absolutely fundamental to the development of Catalan literature. In fact, Allison Peers argues his contribution to Catalan literature is comparable to that of Dante to Italian, and Alfonso X to Spanish. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that Llull’s work, which spanned from 1272 to 1315, coincided with Catalonian political and economic prosperity in the Mediterranean.
There’s too much detail to cover here, but Llull’s most important contribution was perhaps his transforming of Catalan into a written language capable of expressing anything, from history to science. Llull transformed Catalan from the spoken language of the people, to a language that could also be used with the quill to compete with Latin. For context, it took languages like French and Italian another three centuries to even begin to rival Latin in academic fields, and several centuries longer to supplant it. A final point worth noting is that this literary language extended to all the Catalan territories, and, in contrast to the troubadour poetry, was addressed to all levels of society. Nevertheless, it’s again important to stress that the role of individuals is overplayed in history. Though Llull left a shining example of Catalan’s diverse literary potential, he had no immediate imitators, and his work did not diminish the prominence of Latin - it merely showed a Catalan alternative was possible. Far more decisive in the expansion of Catalan’s significance was the growing bourgeoisie, who increasingly demanded works in Catalan.
Following Llull’s death, the linguistic unity of written Catalan was guarded by the Cancelleria Reial (Royal Chancellery), which had been increasingly using Catalan for official documents in place of Latin since 1276. By the late fourteenth century, the work of the Chancellory had gone a long way towards standardising written Catalan.
Catalonia flourished during its union with the Crown of Aragon, with both respectful of each other’s languages - Aragonese and Catalan. The union continued to expand its territory and influence, incorporating Sicily in 1282, Athens in 1311, and Sardinia in 1323, as well as enjoying a commercial presence from North Africa to Syria.
This expansion spread the Catalan language in turn. From 1283, Catalan became the administrative language of the chancellories of Palermo and Messina until the fifteenth century, alongside the local Italo-Romance dialect - Sicilian. The language also flourished elsewhere on the island, such as Agosta, but particularly Catania, which was proclaimed ‘caput et protectrix omnium catalanorum’, which in Catalan is cap i protectora de tots els catalans (leader and protector of all Catalans).
In Sardinia, government decrees were being published in Catalan by 1337, and in the decades that followed, the people of the city of Alghero were expelled and replaced by Catalan colonists. To this day, Catalan can be heard in the streets of Alghero, where it is sometimes referred to as Barceloneta. Sardinia remained under the dominion of Catalonia until 1720, when it was annexed to Piedmont in the Treaty of Utrecht.
Catalonian conquest in Greece was far more fleeting, and the language failed to take root, surviving only in documents written within eighty years of the initial capture of Athens. Catalan influence in Naples was similarly faint, as its conquest in 1442 only led to fifteen years of Catalonian sovereignty over the city.
Nevertheless, cultural exchange between Catalonia and the Italian Peninsula flourished during this period. The town hall of Valencia began running Italian classes, whilst the humanist movement and the Renaissance added words of Italian origin to the Catalan lexicon, including artesà (artisan), emboscada (ambush), escaramussa (skirmish), filigrana (watermark), gruta (grotto), macarró (macaroni), medalla (medal), mercant (merchant), and novel∙la (novel). Another feature of the humanist movement was the translation of classical texts, as well as the famous contemporary Italian authors; Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, and Giovanni Boccaccio. Just fourteen years after Petrarca’s death, Bernat Metge translated some of his works into Catalan, and the Catalan editions of Dante’s Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy) and Boccaccio’s Decamerone (Decameron) are said to have been the first translations to be made of these works in all of Europe.
An array of Classical Latin writers, such as Cicero and Ovid, were also translated during the final decades of the fourteenth century, eagerly read by the expanding mercantile class. Aside from Bernat Metge, other important contributors to Catalan humanism were Antoni Canals, Francesc Eiximenis, and Vincent Ferrer. Through their translations and literary works, such authors introduced an array of Latin and Greek words into Catalan, such as aristocràcia (aristocracy), avariciós (avaricious), democràcia (democracy), execució (execution), oci (leisure), perspectiva (perspective), professió (profession), tiranitzar (to tyrannise), and transcendent.
During the fifteenth century, Valencia flourished to become the economic and cultural centre of the Catalan-speaking lands. Some of the most renowned writers of the period hailed from Valencia, and even those that didn’t tended to settle there. Written Catalan had by this point reached a stage of maturity whereby it was a truly unified language, capable of treating an array of themes, but unburdened by discrepancies of form. In fact, the fifteenth century is considered something of a golden age for Catalan literature, decorated by writers such as Ausiàs March, Joanot Martorell, Roís de Corella, and Jaume Roig.
Such writers benefited from the expansion of the bourgeoisie during this period, whose growth in turn led to increased demand for books. This was only enhanced as the century wore on, with the advent of the printing press. In 1473, Valencia acquired the peninsula’s first printing press, and was soon followed by Barcelona. As was the trend elsewhere in Europe, this new technology inadvertently led to the standardisation of languages, as the need for coherent spelling and rules was brought to the fore by the sheer volume of works being published.
The fifteenth century also witnessed the fading of Catalonia as a political power, begun by the Compromise of Caspe in 1412, which brought the Trastámara dynasty - relatives of Castile - to the throne of Aragon. Following a civil war between 1462 and 1472, Catalonia had a diminishing role in the affairs of the Crown. This compounded what had been a century of tumult, beginning with the devastation of the Black Death. The pestilence led to outbreaks of plague across Europe for centuries, and it’s estimated almost forty percent of Catalonia’s population lost their lives between 1347 and 1497.
Valencia Cathedral, opened in 1262
Photo by Marco De Luca on Unsplash
The Rise of Spain and the Spanish Language
By the late fifteenth century, the Iberian Peninsula was beginning to take the political shape we see today. The marriage of Isabel of Castile to Fernando of Aragón in 1469 paved the way for the union of two of the most powerful Iberian kingdoms aside from Portugal. Though neither were initially head of their respective dominions, by 1479 the pair had ascended to their thrones, to be Isabel I, Queen of Castile, and Fernando II, King of Aragón. They came to be known as Reyes Católicos (Catholic Monarchs), as their reign was characterised by measures to unite the inhabitants of their domains, channelling the religious zeal of the Reconquista to forge the Kingdom of Spain. In fact, they were the first monarchs to refer to their marriage of kingdoms as a single political entity - España. Whilst religious fervour was the monarchs’ chosen force to unify the kingdom, they deliberately began calling the Castilian language español, in an attempt to inspire a sense of shared identity amongst their subjects.
Although Catalan has continued to be spoken by the people of Catalonia to this day, Spanish words did begin to enter the language. Words such as maco (handsome), palangana (basin), faldilla (skirt), and borratxo (drunk) were borrowed from Spanish during this period.
Though the majority of the population spoke Catalan, the privileged classes followed the Renaissance trend for conversing in whichever languages were deemed most fashionable. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, but particularly with the conquest of the Americas in the decades that followed, Spanish became a language of prestige amongst the nobility of the Catalan-speaking lands, especially in Valencia. This has been highlighted by the work of historian Philippe Berger, researching the publishing trends of Valencia’s printing press during its first ninety years of existence. For fifteen years after its establishment in 1474, a third of the books published were in Catalan, two-thirds in Latin. Between 1526 and 1541, just 15% of their releases were in Catalan, whilst 51% and 34% were in Spanish and Latin respectively. Nevertheless, Catalan authors remained popular. The Obras of Ausiàs March, published as a bilingual edition in Valencia in 1539, went on to be translated into Spanish by publishing houses across the peninsula, including Seville in 1553, Valladolid in 1555, Zaragoza in 1562, and Madrid in 1579.
In October 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the ‘New World’ under the banner of the Spanish monarchs. Once the wealth of the new lands became apparent, and the hospitality of the indigenous peoples clear, Europeans swarmed over the Americas for plunder. Just two years after Columbus first made landfall, Pope Alexander VI decreed the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the world between the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. The ensuing rush for wealth and land led to the deaths of tens of millions of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas, mostly through European diseases to which they lacked immunity, but also through murder and enslavement. This contributed to the emergence of the Atlantic Slave Trade, as Europeans found they couldn’t sustain the commercial ventures they’d started in the Americas due to the rate at which their actions were killing the indigenous people they had enslaved. Their solution, founded on the slave trade Portugal had established during the fifteenth century, was to enslave human beings from Africa, forcing them to work on the plantations and mines sprouting in the Americas.
It’s thought there were at least 600 languages being spoken in the Americas in 1492, from 125 different language families. Given that population estimates now have 75 million people as an absolute minimum for the Americas at that time - with some arguing as many as 145 million - it is likely there were more than 600 languages, given that as much as 95% of the indigenous population are thought to have died within decades of European arrival. Although it is believed around half of the six hundred languages were wiped out, some cultures that are claimed in history lessons to have been made extinct, lived on. They were decimated, certainly, but they did not all disappear. Some of the indigenous languages of the Americas live on today, or are being resurrected from obscurity. For example, people living in the Caribbean are today piecing the Taíno language back together.
The Taíno people were the first encountered by Columbus. Their language, like several other indigenous tongues, has also lived on through Spanish, and then other languages. In fact, the words Spanish, and then Catalan, borrowed from Taíno have also been borrowed by English. The Catalan words canoa (canoe), barbacoa (barbecue), hamaca (hammock), huracà (hurricane), iguana, maíz (corn), and tabac (tobacco), are all Taíno words borrowed directly into Spanish, and then Catalan. Of all the indigenous languages encountered by Spanish, it was Taíno that had the greatest influence.
The Aztec Empire, brought down in 1519 by Hernán Cortés and his conquistadors, was a multilingual and multinational entity of Huastecs, Mixtecs, Otomi, Tarascans, Totonacs, and Zapotecs, all of whom understood the Aztec language, Nahuatl. As with Taíno, Spaniards used indigenous words to describe things they’d never seen before. Nahuatl is thus the origin of an array of Spanish, and thus Catalan, words. The Nahuatl word xitomatl became tomate (tomato) in Spanish, and then tomàquet in Catalan. Likewise, a drink called xocolatl became chocolate in Spanish, and then xocolata in Catalan. Names of indigenous staples also gave Catalan the words alvocat (avocado) and cacauet (peanut). Another was nopal, an edible cactus central to the Mexican diet, now resting on the national flag.
The conquistador Francisco Pizarro left behind smallpox after a scouting mission to Peru in 1528, and by the time he’d returned in 1532, the Inca Empire he attacked was in a chaotic state. The Spanish had subdued much of the resistance by 1540, and the subjects of the Incas found themselves with new masters. Not long before the Spaniards’ arrival, the Incas had adopted Quechua as the lingua franca of their empire, and the Spanish continued to use it for the same practical purposes. As with the Caribbean and Mexico, indigenous staples and resources became part of Spanish, and therefore Catalan, vocabulary, with some of the most notable examples being quinoa, cautxú (rubber), llamas, and coca (coca leaves), the latter being used as a cure for altitude sickness.
Though less than 1 percent of the vocabulary of standard Catalan is thought to originate from indigenous languages of the Americas, they are often well-known words. As the Spaniards reached Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, a few words were borrowed from Tupí-Guaraní, the most famous of which are jaguar, maraca, and piranya (piranha) in Catalan.
The Spanish and Portuguese conquests of the Americas shifted the currents of European trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, thereby weakening the Catalonian economy. Compounding this was the prominence of Seville and Cadiz as the points of departure and arrival for conquistadors and profiteers. Further to this, Catalans were banned from commercial activities in the Americas, which also highlights how the fledgling Spanish kingdom was still far from unified during the sixteenth century. By 1550, the map of Latin America we see today had almost taken shape, and, apart from Brazil, would be under Spanish dominion for almost three centuries.
As the centuries passed, Catalonia’s subordination to the Spanish monarchy deepened. The Reapers’ War of 1640 to 1652, also known as the Catalan Revolt, briefly led to the proclamation of a Catalan Republic in 1641. Led by Pau Claris, Catalonia became an independent state under French protection, though it was short-lived. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees divided the Catalan linguistic and cultural area, els Països Catalans, between France and Spain, though the agreed border wasn’t physically marked for another two centuries, with the Treaties of Bayonne in 1855 and 1866.
The decisive blow to the Principality of Catalonia came with the War of Spanish Succession, from 1701 to 1714. The Crown of Aragon backed the wrong horse, the Archduke Charles of Habsburg, leading to the eventual fall of Barcelona, on 11 September 1714. To this day, the 11 September is commemorated as the Diada Nacional de Catalunya (National Day of Catalonia), known simply as La Diada.
King Philip V, of the victorious Bourbon dynasty, imposed a unifying royal administration across Spain, inspired by the French model. This marginalised the role of the Crown of Aragon, whilst other measures introduced, known as the Nueva Planta decrees, merged Catalonia with the province of Castile, as well as banning its institutions and laws. Catalan thus suffered as a language of government and literature, though it remained the tongue of the region’s inhabitants.
The influence of French became particularly strong during this period, giving Catalan words such as jardí (garden), homenatge (homage), claraboia (skylight), and xemeneia (chimney).
Plaza España, Seville, Spain
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Catalan and Spanish since the Nineteenth Century
After decades of upheaval wrought by the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars of the early nineteenth century, Catalonia industrialised as the century wore on. As is often the case, economic prosperity only benefitted a tiny minority of the population. Growing inequality and the torrid working conditions of industrialisation contributed to the development of workers’ movements, including anarchist groups.
The nineteenth century also witnessed the Renaixença, a Catalan renaissance founded on the work of authors such as Manuel Milà i Fontanals, Jacint Verdaguer, Narcís Oller, and Frederic Soler, as well as the architect Antoni Gaudi. The movement sought to restore the cultural prestige of the Catalan language, which had been hampered by Catalonia’s political subjugation. Aside from the literary and architectural works, a seminal feature of the Renaixença was the restoration of the Jocs Florals (Floral Games) in Barcelona in 1859, poetry contests dating back centuries both sides of the Pyrenees. The Renaixença coincided with a period of population growth throughout the different regions and islands of els Països Catalans, rising from 3.4 million in 1860 to over 4 million by 1900.
Following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, Catalonia enjoyed political conditions it hadn’t experienced for centuries. The region was given more autonomy, and Catalan was made an official language alongside Spanish. Sadly, right-wing forces hampered the Republic, and when a military coup found backing from Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and a tacitly accepting Britain, Spain descended into a bloody civil war, lasting from 1936 to 1939.
Linguists who study Spanish often refer to the twentieth century in two periods - before and after the dictatorship of Franco. This is because he essentially froze the Spanish language, restricting foreign influence and suppressing regional languages like Basque, Galician, and Catalan. The Spanish Civil War, and the decades of tyranny that followed, cannot be done justice in one book, let alone a few paragraphs. However, for those wanting to learn more, I’d recommend starting with the work of Paul Preston, who has written in both English and Spanish on the subject.
In the wake of Franco’s death, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 recognised Catalan autonomy, both politically and in language. Catalonia gained considerable self-government of its internal affairs, and became one of the most prosperous economic areas of Spain. However, this millennium, and particularly since the capitalist crash of 2008, there have been growing calls for Catalonian independence from Spain, fuelled in part by a sense the region carries a disproportionate tax burden to the rest of the country.
If you’re interested in exploring the history of Catalan and Spanish further, the How to Learn Catalan Guide contains a detailed section called ‘A Short History of Catalan’, whilst the How to Learn Spanish Guide contains a detailed section called 'A Short History of Spanish'.
Is Catalan Similar to Spanish? Linguistic Similarities and Differences
Vocabulary Comparisons
Catalan and Spanish share a significant amount of vocabulary due to their often intertwined history - as seen above. If you're familiar with one language, you will recognize many words in the other.
Grammar and Syntax
Grammatical structures are where the two languages start to feel more distinct for learners. While they share common Romance language traits, key differences stand out:
Definite Articles: Spanish uses el, la, los, and las for 'the', while Catalan employs el, la, els, and les. A key difference here is the Catalan pronunciation of el (and thus els, too), which is less phonetic than Spanish, and can sound a bit more like 'al'.
Verb Conjugations: Although both Catalan and Spanish follow broadly similar conjugation patterns, these nevertheless produce distinct conjugations of verbs in the respective languages. For example, 'I am' (with the ser form of 'to be') is ho sóc in Catalan but yo soy in Spanish, whilst 'you are' is ets tu in Catalan but tu eres in Spanish.
Word Order: Both languages follow Subject-Verb-Object order but differ in flexibility. For instance, Catalan often places pronouns in positions that Spanish speakers would find unusual.
Pronunciation and Dialects
Perhaps the clearest separation lies in how the two languages sound. If you’ve heard both spoken, you've likely noticed stark variances in pronunciation and regional accents.
Pronunciation: Catalan tends to maintain a more "rounded" sound, while Spanish has sharper, staccato-like phonetics. A key example is the treatment of vowels. Catalan distinguishes eight vowel sounds, compared to Spanish's five.
Consonant Clusters: Catalan frequently uses consonant clusters (e.g., "pluja" for rain), while Spanish avoids them.
Regional Variations: Both languages have dialects. Castellano is standard Spanish, while Catalan includes dialects like Valencian and Balearic. These add texture but can make communication even more nuanced.
Want a comparison of pronunciation patterns? Check out Spanish vs. Catalan: A Guide to Language and Culture and the following video comparing the pronunciation of Catalan and Spanish.
Photo by Wind Sun
Learning Catalan for Spanish Speakers
Learning Catalan as a Spanish speaker opens up doors to unique experiences and richer cultural immersion. Though many often assume that Catalan and Spanish are too similar to bother learning both, the reality is that each language has its unique charm and use, especially within Catalonia and neighboring regions. Let’s explore the benefits and resources to help you get started.
Benefits of Learning Catalan
For Spanish speakers, learning Catalan offers more than just linguistic advantages. It’s a meaningful way to connect deeper with Catalonia's culture and understand its identity. Here are some reasons why it’s worth diving in:
Cultural Appreciation: By learning Catalan, you're not just learning a language; you're gaining entry into a rich cultural history. Celebrations like "els castells" (human towers) and festivals such as "els correfocs" feature prominently in Catalonia. Catalan allows you to engage with these traditions on a deeper level. For more on Catalan traditions and why this language matters, check out Why Learn Catalan?.
Professional Growth: Catalonia is home to innovation hubs like Barcelona. Speaking Catalan could be a golden opportunity if you work in tourism, international trade, or tech. It’s a skill that could easily set you apart.
Ease of Learning: As a Spanish speaker, you're already ahead of the curve. Many grammatical structures and words will feel familiar, allowing you to learn Catalan faster than someone with no Romance language background.
Social Connection: Catalan speakers often appreciate the effort of newcomers trying to learn their language. By speaking Catalan, you're likely to form stronger connections and show respect for local communities. This might lead to warmer interactions, especially in Catalonia, Valencia, or the Balearic Islands.
Photo by Samuel Sweet
My Experience Learning Catalan and Spanish
Understanding the distinctions between Catalan and Spanish early on can help you transition smoothly between the two languages, although it's worth emphasising that if you're familiar with one, then learning the other will feel relatively straightforward. For example, after teaching myself Spanish, I found learning Catalan for the purpose of dissertation research to be a smooth process. This was particularly the case for learning to read Catalan, as the abundance of shared vocabulary between the two languages made picking up the meaning of Catalan texts a faster task than it would otherwise have been.
I was also fortunate to have the option of taking a module in Catalan during my final year of university. The teacher was excellent, conducting the majority of her lessons in Catalan to allow us to immerse in the language as much as possible, whilst still making sure to provide clarification in English when needed. To compliment this, I was sure to immerse in Catalan as often as possible, be it in the shower, during my walk to university and work, or whilst jogging in the park. I'd often listen to radio shows from TV3, which are conveniently available as podcasts.
If you're interested in how I taught myself Spanish, I'd recommend the following article and video in which I go into detail on How I Learnt Spanish.
If you're curious about learning Catalan and want to save yourself a lot of time through not having to spend hours looking for resources and through having a convenient, affordable, and enjoyable plan for learning the language, then I'd recommend the How to Learn Catalan Guide. It provides you with everything you need to learn Catalan - focusing on free, online resources you can use wherever you are. If you're only after resources for learning Catalan, then I'd suggest using The Best Catalan Learning Resources.
If you're learning Spanish, I'd also recommend tools like the best resources for learning Spanish or the How to Learn Spanish Guide
Eixample, Barcelona
Photo by Media Lens King
Conclusion
Catalan and Spanish are distinct languages, but they have a lot of similarities. This means that if you're familiar with one of these languages, then learning the other will not only be easier, but also worthwhile, as an understanding of both will give you a deeper appreciation of the history and culture of the Iberian Peninsula.
