Member of the Romance branch of the
Indo-European language family, traditionally
known as Castilian and originally spoken only
in NE Spain. As the language of the court, it
has been the standard and literary language
of the Spanish state since the 13th century.
It is now a world language, spoken in Mexico
and all South and Central American countries
(except Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and French
Guiana) as well as in the Philippines, Cuba,
Puerto Rico, and much of the USA that borders
on Spanish-speaking countries or has large
Latin American immigrant communities.
Castilian Spanish has never succeeded in
supplanting such regional languages as
Basque, Gallego or Galician, and Catalan.
Because of the long Muslim dominance of the S
Iberian peninsula, Spanish has been
influenced by Arabic. Words in English of
Spanish origin include bronco, cargo,
galleon, mosquito, ranch, and sherry.