Portuguese is a widely known language and that’s thanks to its peculiar sound, as well as being the native language of more than 220 million people. We know that it’s the official language of both Portugal and Brazil, but did you know that it’s also the official language of many other countries? There are Portuguese speaking areas around the world in countries such as Andorra, Luxemburg, The United States, Canada, Namibia, France and South Africa. How did it become such a widely spoken language and what is the origin of Portuguese?
At Glorick, we offer online Business-Portuguese courses and that’s why we think it’s important to mention in this article what the origin is of this beautiful Romance-language.
The strange history of Portuguese
The charm of this language comes from its rhythm, whose accent varies from region to region, the same as Spanish. But what century should we go to in order to understand the origin of this language? Well, we should travel back to the 3rd century and, much like French and Spanish, it has its origins in the Western part of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s a version of Latin and so forms part of the Romance Languages.
The earliest traces of Portuguese go back to what is now called Galicia, in the region of Lusitania and Gallaecia. In the year 218, the Romans invaded this region and brought what is called “Vulgar Latin”, which was quickly imposed on the native languages of the region. This version of Latin is what is commonly known as Portuguese, and only a small part of which is made up of words from native languages of the area.
The Iberian Peninsula was invaded twice, first by the Suebi and the Visigoths, Barbarian peoples who easily adapted to the version of Latin that was already spoken there, and then later again by the Arabs.
The emergence of Portuguese
In the 14th century The County of Portugal appeared which would later become Portugal in 1143. With every historical event in the region, the language went on evolving and spreading little by little throughout the region that we now know as Portugal. In the 13th century King Denis finally established Portuguese as the official language of the Portuguese Kingdom, and later in the 15th and 16th centuries, the age of colonisation, it spread to the countries that today have Portuguese as an official language.
The importance of learning Portuguese
We must mention that, nowadays, many powerful countries in the world have Portuguese as an official language, and that’s why learning this language and knowing how to speak it is very important.
If you would like to know more reasons to learn Portuguese, visit our blog that speaks about the advantages of learning Portuguese, and if you’re curious about our e-learning services then get in touch.