Latin, is arguably another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language
and the liturgical language of the Church. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early
modern period, most literate Spanish-speakers were also literate in Latin; and thus they easily
adopted Latin words into their writing—and eventually speech—in Spanish. The form of Latin
that Spaniards spoke and the loanwords came from was Classical Latin, but also Renaissance
Latin, the form of Latin used in original works of the time.
Internal history
Spanish shares with other Romance languages most of the phonological and grammatical
changes that characterized Vulgar Latin, such as the abandonment of distinctive vowel length,
the loss of the case system for nouns, and the loss of deponent verbs.
Syncope
Syncope in the history of Spanish refers to the loss of an unstressed vowel from the syllable
immediately preceding or following the stressed syllable. Early in its history, Spanish lost such
vowels where they preceded or followed R or L, and between S and T.[24][25][26]
Early syncope in Spanish
Environment
Latin words
Spanish words
_r
aperīre, humerum, litteram,[27] operam, honorāre
abrir, hombro, letra, obra,
honrar
r_
eremum, viridem
yermo, verde
_l
acūculam, fabulam, insulam, populum
aguja, habla, isla, pueblo
l_
sōlitārium
soltero
s_t
positum, consūtūram
puesto, costura
*Solitario, which is derived from sōlitārium, is a learned word; cf. the alternate form soltero. As
also "fábula" from "fabulam", although this last one has a different meaning in Spanish.
Later, after the time of intervocalic voicing, unstressed vowels were lost between other
combinations of consonants:
Later syncope in Spanish
Environment
Latin words
Spanish words
b_t
cubitum, dēbitam, dūbitam
codo, deuda, duda
c_m, c_p, c_t
decimum, acceptōre, recitāre
diezmo, azor, rezar
d_c
undecim, vindicāre
once, vengar
f_c
advērificāre
averiguar
m_c, m_n, m_t
hāmiceolum, hominem, comitem
anzuelo, hombre, conde
n_c, n_t
dominicum, bonitāte, cuminitiāre
domingo, bondad, comenzar
p_t
capitālem, computāre, hospitālem
caudal, contar, hostal
s_c, s_nquassicāre, rassicāre, asinum, fraxinum
cascar, rascar, asno, fresno
t_c, t_n masticāre, portaticum, trīticum, retinammascar/masticar, portazgo, trigo, rienda
Words capital, computar, hospital, recitar and vindicar are learned words; cf. capitālem,
computāre, hospitālem, recitāre, and vindicāre and alternate forms caudal, contar, hostal, rezar,
and vengar.
Elision
While voiceless intervocalic consonants regularly became voiced, many voiced intervocalic stops
(d, g, and occasionally b) were dropped from words altogether through a process called elision.
[28][29] Latin /b/ between vowels usually changed to /v/ in Old Spanish (e.g. habēre > aver),
while Latin /p/ became /b/ (sapere > saber). In modern times the two phonemes merged into
/b/ (haber, saber), realized as [β] between vowels (see Merger of /b/ and /v/). Latin voiced stops
—/b/, /d/, and /ɡ/, which are represented orthographically as B, D, and G respectively—and also
occurred in intervocalic positions also underwent lenition: [β], [ð], and [ɣ], but appeared in
Spanish also through learned words from Classical Latin.
