Castellano and español are both names for the language we call Spanish. The choice of one term or the other is rooted in history, politics, regional identity and usage.
Historically, castellano was one of several Iberian Romance languages and dialects that evolved separately for reasons of geography, differing political administrations, and contact with other languages (such as Basque and Arabic). However, the areas where castellano was spoken kept growing.
Originating in the north, in the historical region of Castilla (possibly named for its castles and defensive fortifications), castellano spread southwards, west and east thanks to the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile during the Middle Agesand its political union with other Iberian kingdoms.
With colonization of large parts of the Americas (starting in 1492, the year the first Castilian grammar was published), castellano crossed the Atlantic, hence its use now in much of Central and South America. As the Spanish empire expanded, the term español began gaining ground and by the 18th century it was often favoured in some official contexts, although both terms were used simultaneously.
Nowadays ‘el castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado’ under the 1978 constitution, with all citizens having a duty to know it. However, it shares joint official status with other languages of Spain in the autonomous regions.
So which speakers use which term nowadays, and why?
Spain still has a number of other languages (despite Franco’s policy of suppressing themduring his 1939–1975 dictatorship), and nowadays euskera (Basque), catalán (Catalan) and gallego (Galician), as well as aranés (Aranese) and valenciano (Valencian), are recognized as lenguas cooficiales in the autonomous regions where they are spoken. While español is also widely used to refer to Spain’s national language (especially in monolingual areas with no regional identity tied to another tongue), many speakers prefer castellano, perhaps to be more inclusive of Spain’s other languages and to avoid implications of linguistic primacy.
In Latin America, usage varies. In Mexico and much of Central America, español is the standard term for Spanish, whereas in parts of South America castellano is more widely used, especially in countries like Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile to varying degrees.
The recommendation of the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (published by the Real Academia Españolaand the Asociación de Academias de la LenguaEspañola)is that both terms are equally valid, although it tends to prefer español in international contexts because it is less ambiguous. It recommends reserving castellano for its other related senses: 1) medieval Castilian; 2) the regional variety used in the area today. However, it mentions the use ofcastellano in Spain when contrasting it with another co-official language, which may be one of the reasons the Spanish constitution uses castellano rather than español.
You’ll sometimes hear linguists use the expressions español castellano or español de Castilla (Castilian Spanish)to refer to the variety of Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, complete with its characteristic th sound for c (before e and i) and z; Latin American Spanish speakers, as well as speakers of some southern varieties in Spain, use an s sound for these. Each week you’ll find more articles and tips here about Spanish usage, so do join us again.
