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88-515: Grandee ( / ɡ r ən ˈ d iː / ; Spanish : Grande de España , Spanish: [ˈɡɾande] ) is an official aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility . Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the Ancien Régime , though in neither country did they have the significant constitutional political role the House of Lords gave to
176-633: A fidalgo ( Portuguese: [fiˈðalɣu] , Galician: [fiˈðalɣʊ] ) is a member of the Spanish or Portuguese nobility ; the feminine forms of the terms are hidalga , in Spanish , and fidalga , in Portuguese and Galician . Legally, an hidalgo is a nobleman by blood who can pass his noble condition to his children, as opposed to someone who acquired his nobility by royal grace. In practice, hidalgos enjoyed important privileges, such as being exempt from paying taxes , having
264-503: A miles simply by being able to provide, and afford the costs of, mounted military service. Only by the mid-twelfth century did the ranks of the knights begin to be—in theory—closed by lineage. In the frontier towns that were created as the Christian kingdoms pushed into Muslim land, the caballeros , and not the magnates who often were far away, came to dominate politics, society and cultural patronage. From their ranks were also drawn
352-594: A parliamentary seat ). By extension, the term can refer informally to any important person of high status , particularly wealthy , landed long-time residents in a region. In the United Kingdom the term is currently and informally used of influential and long-standing members of the Conservative Party , Labour Party and Liberal Democrats , and has had more specific meanings in the past. Most Spanish noble titles are granted as títulos del Reino ( Peer of
440-522: A title . Since the 20th century invariably the King of Spain has conferred a Grandeza de España upon any newly created duke . A grandee of any noble rank is higher in precedence than a non-grandee (apart from members of the Spanish Royal Family ), even if that non-grandee holds a hereditary title ( titulo ) of a higher grade than that of the said grandee. Thus, a baron -grandee would outrank
528-672: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Hidalgo (Spanish nobility) An hidalgo ( / ɪ ˈ d æ l ɡ oʊ / , Spanish: [iˈðalɣo] ) or
616-588: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
704-517: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
792-476: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
880-636: A grandee of Spain multiple times, as grandeeships are attached, except in a few cases, to a title and not an individual. Such grandees with more than one title notably include the current Duchess of Medinaceli and the Duke of Alba , who are grandees ten and nine times respectively. All sons and daughters of Infantes are also grandees. According to the 1876 Constitution , fully in force until 1923, grandees of Spain could also be senators por derecho propio ("in their own right"), alongside archbishops and top military ranks. As of 2018, grandeeships totalled 417 out of
968-429: A grant of nobility from His Majesty the King of Spain in his position as monarch, or from his position as protector of a military confraternity or hermandad . Hidalgo de bragueta (" fly-of-the-trousers hidalgo") obtained tax exemption for having seven sons in lawful wedlock. In Asturias , Cantabria and other regions of Spain every seven years the King ordered the creation of padrones ("registers") where
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#17330850432971056-471: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
1144-472: A man with full Roman citizenship. In the previous Visigoth monarchies, the condition of the hidalgo was that of a freeman without land wealth, but with the nobleman's rights to bear arms and to be exempt from taxation, in compensation for military service; the military obligation and the social condition remained in force by the Fuero Juzgo law. The hidalguía has its origins in fighting men of
1232-399: A non-grandee marquess , thus rendering the dignity of grandeza an hereditary rank of precedence rather than a title of nobility . Since 1987, children of an infante of Spain are recognised as members of the Spanish royal family and are accorded the rank and style of a grandee by courtesy : they do not formally hold this dignity until such time as a title with grandeza
1320-498: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
1408-550: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
1496-518: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
1584-710: A significant number of German, Flemish , Walloon , Italian, and Novohispanic / Aztec peers, as a result of the scope of the Spanish Empire in Europe and the Americas. Some examples included the Dukes of Wellington , Bavaria , Villars , Mouchy , Moctezuma de Tultengo , Doudeauville , Croÿ , the Princes of Sulmona , Ligne , and the Counts of Egmont . The dignity of grandee was abolished by
1672-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
1760-640: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of
1848-446: Is called a carta ejecutoria de hidalguia ( letters patent of nobility ). To qualify as an hidalgo solariego ("ancestral hidalgo"), one had to prove that all four of one's grandparents were hidalgos . Hidalgos solariegos were regarded as the most noble and treated with the most respect. Hidalgos de privilegio (by virtue of royal privilege) and hidalgos de Real Provision (by virtue of meritorious acts) entail
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#17330850432971936-449: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
2024-503: Is granted to them by the sovereign . Some of the best known Spanish grandees are the dukes of Arcos , of Alba , of Medinaceli , of Villahermosa , of Osuna , del Infantado , of Alburquerque , of Moctezuma , of Frías and of Medina-Sidonia ; well-known marquesses include those of Aguilar de Campoo, of Astorga , of Santillana, and of los Vélez ; the counts of Benavente, of Lerín , Olivares, Oñate, and Lemos also hold grandeeships. Grandees and their consorts are entitled to
2112-740: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
2200-721: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
2288-806: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
2376-804: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
2464-484: Is universally praised even more than those noblemen who know otherwise their origin", or in other words, an immemorial noble . When challenged, an hidalgo de sangre may obtain a judicial sentence validating his nobility from the Royal Chancillería of Valladolid or Granada, if he can prove that it has been accepted by local society and custom. In this case, the resulting legal document that verifies his nobility
2552-508: The Reconquista . By the tenth century the term infanzón appears in Asturian-Leonese documents as a synonym for the Spanish and Medieval Latin terms caballero and miles (both, " knight "). These infanzones were vassals of the great magnates and prelates and ran their estates for them as petty nobility . In these first centuries it was still possible to become
2640-559: The Kingdom of Castile and in the Kingdom of Portugal to identify a type of nobility . In Portugal, the cognate remained fidalgo , which identified nobles of a similar status to an hidalgo in Spain. In the Kingdom of Aragón , the infanzón was the noble counterpart of the Castilian hidalgo . The pronunciation changes in Spanish occurred during the late Middle Ages , the f- sound in
2728-532: The Peerage of England , of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom . A "grandee of Spain" nonetheless enjoyed greater social privileges than those of other similar European dignities. With the exception of Fernandina , all Spanish dukedoms are automatically attached to a grandeeship, yet only a few marquessates , countships , viscountcies , baronies and lordships have the distinction. A single person can be
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2816-810: The Second English Civil War , there was a series of debates and confrontations between radical, elected representatives of New Model Army soldiers, known as the Agitators , and the Army's grandees such as Sir Thomas Fairfax , Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton , who opposed the Agitators' more radical proposals. These disagreements were aired publicly at the Putney Debates , which started in late October 1647 and lasted for several weeks. Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano )
2904-557: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
2992-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
3080-534: The United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which
3168-562: The honorific prefix of ' the Most Excellent Lord/Lady' or 'His/Her Most Excellency', and they can be addressed as Primo (cousin) by the King, although this tradition is in disuse today. Both Portuguese and Brazilian nobility adopted the term grande ("grandee") from the Spanish, to designate a higher rank of noblemen. The Brazilian system automatically deemed dukes , marquises and counts (as well as archbishops and bishops ) grandes do Império ("grandees of
3256-497: The sobriquet 'the Ingenious Hidalgo' by his creator, Miguel de Cervantes . In the novel Cervantes has Don Quixote satirically present himself as an hidalgo de sangre and aspire to live the life of a knight-errant despite the fact that his economic position does not allow him to truly do so. Don Quixote's possessions allowed to him a meager life devoted to his reading obsession, yet his concept of honour led him to emulate
3344-424: The 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout
3432-479: The 2,942 extant titles in Spain (approximately 14%) of which there were 153 Dukedoms, 142 Marquessates, 108 Countships, 2 Viscountcies, 2 Baronies, 3 Lordships and 7 hereditary grandees with no title attached to the grandeeship. Despite losing their last legal privilege in 1984, when the right to possess diplomatic passports and immunity was revoked for all grandees of Spain, they still enjoy certain ceremonial privileges. All grandees are entitled to remain covered in
3520-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
3608-574: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
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3696-517: The Empire", or literally translated as "Great Ones of the Empire"). Viscounts and barons could also be ennobled with or without grandeza ("grandeeship", alternatively "greatness"). Viscounts ennobled with grandeeship displayed a count's coronet on their coat of arms, and barons ennobled with grandeeship bore a coat of arms surmounted by a viscount's coronet. The order of precedence in Brazilian nobility
3784-639: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
3872-691: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
3960-400: The King's command; they were usually the senior judicial officers of their region. These rights later became open to abuse with some grandees renouncing their allegiance to the monarchy to wage war on the King. In the late 1470s, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were the first to clamp down on grandee powers assumed by the medieval territorial nobles. In the 16th century, limitations on
4048-536: The Kings of Castile and Aragon until the late Middle Ages —in contrast to France and elsewhere in Europe (where feudalism evolved more quickly)—being largely associated with royal officers until the 14th century. The conferral of grandeeships initially conveyed only ceremonial privileges, such as remaining covered or seated in the presence of royalty . Over time grandees received more substantial rights: for example freedom from taxation and immunity from arrest, save at
4136-608: The Napoleonic King Joseph Bonaparte , before being revived in 1834 by Estatuto real when grandees were given precedence in the Chamber of Peers of Spain . Nowadays, all grandees are deemed to be "of the first class", and is an honorific dignity conferring neither power or legal privilege. A Grandeza de España (grandeeship) is a separate legal entity from a title of nobility, although grandezas are normally but not exclusively granted in conjunction with
4224-529: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
4312-483: The Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of
4400-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
4488-451: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
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#17330850432974576-672: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
4664-495: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
4752-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
4840-661: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
4928-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
5016-584: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
5104-428: The knights-errant. The picaresque novel Lazarillo features an hidalgo so poor that he spreads breadcrumbs on his clothes, to simulate having eaten a meal. His hidalgo honour forbids him manual work but does not provide him with subsistence. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's Tales of a Wayside Inn includes "The Theologian's Tale" which recounts the tragedy of Hidalgo who betrays his two daughters to
5192-527: The language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in
5280-479: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
5368-686: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
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#17330850432975456-402: The memorialist Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon who took great pride in becoming a grandee after his successful posting as French Ambassador to Madrid , representing King Louis XIV . The dignity was highly considered by foreign peers. For an extensive period of time, it was even deemed 'the pinnacle of nobiliary stratification'. Foreign grandees were mostly French, although there was also
5544-744: The monarchies in Portugal and Brazil extinguished the formal use of such titles, although their use continues among some of the Portuguese aristocracies. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , senior military officers from the English landed gentry who served in the New Model Army , who were opposed to the more radical Levellers , came to be informally termed "grandees". After the defeat of Charles I of England in
5632-498: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
5720-528: The number of grandees were introduced by King Charles I (who later became Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V), who decreed that the Spanish Crown had the sole right to confer the dignity of a grandee. Subsequently, the grandes de España (grandees of Spain) were subdivided into three grades: All grandees traditionally have been addressed by the king as mi Primo (my cousin), whereas ordinary nobles are formally styled as mi Pariente (my kinsman). Grandezas could also be bestowed upon foreigners, such as
5808-508: The other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano
5896-468: The population was classified either as hidalgos nobles , and therefore, exempt from taxation due to their military status or pecheros (from an archaic verb, pechar , "to pay") who comprised the estado llano ("lower ranks") and were excluded from military service and had to pay taxes. These padrones constitute nowadays a source of information about population genealogy and distribution as well as proof of nobility in certain cases. Over
5984-481: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
6072-408: The presence of the King of Spain , as well as being addressed by him as primo (cousin), a privilege that originated in the 16th century, when most grandees were close relatives of the Monarch. Outside Spain, the term can refer to other people of a somewhat comparable, exalted position, roughly synonymous with magnate ; formerly a rank of high nobility (especially when it carried the right to
6160-401: The privileges of the former title, and along with all citizens were also subject to conscription. Both estates of the realm (social classes) became combined, compulsorily contributing to the nation in service and taxes without exemption, while the titled nobility and royalty kept their former privileges and exemptions. The prototypical fictional hidalgo is Don Quixote , who was given
6248-402: The realm ), many of which predate the modern Spanish monarchy. The Kings of Spain re-established in 1520 the ancient dignity of Grande to confer as an additional rank of honour . The post-nominals of grandees of Spain is GE . The dignity of grandee ( Grand noble ) began to be assumed by Spain 's leading noblemen in the Middle Ages to distinguish them as a Grand señor (' Lord of
6336-423: The realm'), from lesser ricoshombres ( Nobles de naturaleza ), whose rank evolved into that of hidalgo . It was, as John Selden the 17th-century English jurist pointed out, not a general term denoting a class , but "an additional individual dignity not only to all Dukes but to some Marquesses and Counts also". Noble titles , including and above the rank of Count , were seldom created in heredity by
6424-399: The representatives of the towns and cities when the cortes were convened by kings. It was in the twelfth century that this class, along with the upper nobility, began to be referred to as hidalgos . Hidalgos de sangre (by virtue of lineage ) are "those for whom there is no memory of its origin and there is no knowledge of any document mentioning a royal grant, which obscurity
6512-420: The right to bear arms, having a coat of arms, having a separate legal and court system whereby they could only be judged by their peers, not being subject to the death sentence unless it was authorized by the king, etc. Contrary to popular belief, hidalguía (i.e. the condition of being an hidalgo) is not a nobility rank, but rather a type of nobility. Not all hidalgos lacked nobility titles, and not all members of
6600-592: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
6688-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
6776-623: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
6864-548: The title and by the early nineteenth century with the forced levies to military service of all citizens by conscription without any minimum requirements of nobility or pay or loyalty by honour but by coercion on desertion , it had entirely disappeared, along with the social class it had originally signified and most of its centuries-old developed code of honour in the nation's social culture. Influenced by policies in France, hidalgos all became pecheros (taxpayers), without
6952-623: The titled nobility were hidalgos. For example, the Kings of Spain are hidalgos, because their nobility was acquired by blood from time immemorial. In modern times, hidalgos are represented through various organizations, such as the Real Asociación de Hidalgos , the Real Cuerpo de la Nobleza de Madrid , and the orders of chivalry. From the twelfth century, the phrase fijo d'algo (lit. son of something ) and its contraction, fidalgo , were used in
7040-581: The whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on
7128-441: The word-initial position developed into a h-sound, leading to the spelling of hidalgo (see History of the Spanish language ) or “hijo-dalgo” in some formal contexts, etc. In time, the term included the lower-ranking gentry , the untitled, lower stratum of the nobility who were exempted from taxation. The Siete Partidas ( Leyes de Partidas ), suggests that the word hidalgo derives from itálico ("italic"),
7216-633: The world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of
7304-416: The years the title lost its significance, especially in Spain. Kings routinely awarded the title in exchange for personal favors. By the time of the reign of the House of Bourbon , over half a million people enjoyed tax exemptions, putting tremendous strain on the royal state which wasn't calling their services to arms but relied more on professional armies and costly mercenaries. Attempts were made to reform
7392-662: Was as follows: after the members of the Imperial Family, dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts with grandeeship, viscounts without grandeeship, barons with grandeeship, barons without grandeeship. Brazilian grandeeships, like its nobility, were not hereditary titles. Grandees were allowed to keep their heads covered in the presence of the king or emperor until such time as the monarch may command otherwise; as elsewhere throughout Europe, these noble families displayed their coats of arms on their properties, carriages (or vehicles), and over their graves (see hatchment ). The abolition of
7480-630: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
7568-554: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
7656-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
7744-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
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