…le développement roman continue le développement qui conduit de ‘indo-européean au latin. Il n’ya pas eu deux développements successifs, mais un développement continu, tantôt rapide, qui va de l’indo-européean aux parlers romans actuel (A. Meillet, Lingüistique historique et lingüistique générale, vol. 11, p. 114)
The development of the Portuguese language follows a path both typical of Latin-based languages, and unique amongst other Romance and even Ibero-Romance languages. Vulgar Latin, that is, daily spoken Latin , was brought to Iberia by Roman soldiers in 197 BC (compared to 107 AD when Latin arrived in Dacia, leading to the eastern-Romance languages, preserved today in Romanian, Moldovan etc.). In the development the Romance Languages, considering the substratal-pre-existing cultures/languages, and historical periodization are essential to understanding the development of this language group.
Regarding Portuguese, Lusitania (the strip of land encompassing Galicia and modern Portugal), as well as much of remaining Iberia, was inhabited by Celtic peoples. The distinctive cultural and linguistic elements contributed by the Iberian Celtic languages represent the first step in the evolution of Portuguese from Latin. It should also be noted, that Latin was a language evolving in and of itself, and so the “Latin” that would become Portuguese, was markedly different from the “Latin” arriving in Gaul, or Dacia, leading to French, or Romanian, respectively. Nonetheless, the external influence of Luso-Celtic languages can still be observed in modern Portuguese:
- cavallus -> cavalo (horse)
- carrus -> carro (car)
- beccus -> bico (beak)
- camisia -> camisa (shirt)
- mantica -> manteiga (butter)
- Conimbriga -> Coimbra
In addition to lexical borrowings, the influence of celtic phonology led to changes in orthography (presumed to reflect archaic phonology):
The phonemes p-t-l were influenced as in:
- lupu -> lobo (wolf)
- aqua -> água (water)
- datu -> dado (data)
The vowel -e was dropped in the final position:
- male -> mal (badly)
- bene -> bem (well)
- mare -> mar (sea)
The palatization of -l (lh) and -n (nh) when preceding i-e or an -a in hiatus:
- vinea -> vinha (vineyard)
- filia -> filha (daughter)
The assibilization of -d or -t preceding i-e or an -a in hiatus:
- ardeo -> arço (arch)
- audio -> ouço (hear, 1.p.s.)
- gratia -> graça (grace)
- hogie -> hoje (today)
In the fifth century, Germanic invasions began to rampage the Roman Empire. However, relatively peaceful Roman relations with Germanic peoples existed prior to this period, as many Germanic tribe leaders were given autonomy in return for protecting Roman frontiers. Mixing with Latin-speaking Roman soldiers, the diffusion on Germanic linguistic elements can thus be traced much deeper in history.
Germanic peoples began to push into southern and western Europe with the Mongol invasion of eastern Europe in 375 AD. Afterwards, the major Germanic tribes dispersed: the Saxons to Britannia, the Lombards to Italy, the Vandals to North Africa (Carthage), the Franks to Gaul (France), the Suevos to Galicia, and the Visigoths to Lusitania. Although these migration events had many linguistic implications on each Latin-speaking civilization, Roman culture (including Catholicism, and its emphasis on Latin) and language were retained under Germanic rule.
In Portuguese, words of Germanic origin include:
- guerra (war)
- roubar (rob)
- banda (band)
- orgulho (pride)
- rico (rich)
- feudo (feud)
The Visigoths would rule over Lusitania, and much of Spain until 711 AD and the Muslim invasion. The Christian dominion of Iberia was lost when Tárique and Musa, Arab conquerors, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar (> ‘Jabal Tárique’, meaning mountain of Tárique), and defeated Ruderico, the last Visigoth chief, at the Battle of Jérez de la Frontera. Under Muslim rule, the Mozarabic language developed, which was a semitic language based on Arabic with a significant percentage of latin-based lexicon. Arab rule also created a precedent for the monarchic state in Portugal from 1. the Christian Reconquista movement solidifying north in Ásturias, and 2. the Muslim rulership model.
For the Portuguese language, the Arab presence, ending in 1250 for Portugal (completing its Reconquista nearly 250 years before Spain did in 1492) can be observed today:
- arroz (rice)
- alface (lettuce)
- cenoura (carrot)
- girafa (giraffe)
- almofada (cushion)
- almoxarife (stockman)
- açucar (sugar)
- espinafre (spinach)
Finally, the history of the Portuguese language can be divided into three distinct periods:
1. Pre-Historic: pre-9th century
The Roman invasion – Galician-Portuguese spoken traditionally near the Minho River
2. Proto-Historic: 9th-12th centuries
Galician-Portuguese moves south to the Algarve with the Reconquista
3. Historic: 12th century-present
Written sources show differentiation in Portuguese vernacular from Latin texts. Galician and Portuguese separate as two separate languages.
[Information adapted from Spina, Segismundo. História da Lingua Portuguesa. p. 22-34]
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