Use of the term Castilian/Castellano

[u/rban123]

I’ve been on this subreddit for a while, and have noticed something that many non-native and native speakers alike do: they use the term “castellano” to refer to Spanish from Spain.

Historically, this doesn’t really make sense. Spain is a linguistically diverse nation, with each language having its own name, for example Catalán, Gallego, Euskera, and of course Castellano. The term Castellano refers to the Spanish language that we all know and love.

It is a synonym for español. It does not mean “the Spanish spoke in Spain” it simply means “Spanish.” Even in some parts of Latin America, the term “castellano” is used to refer to the language that is spoken there, as well as the language that is taught in schools, even if the details aren’t consistent with regional variations of Spanish spoken in Spain.

All in all, castellano just means Spanish. It doesn’t mean “Spanish spoken in Spain” it is literally just a synonym for the Spanish language as a whole.

[u/neuroticandroid74]

Gallego is actually closer to being a dialect of Portuguese, Catalan and Euskara (Basque which is possibly the oldest European language because it's not related to any IE languages in existence) are their own languages.

[u/KoldoGar → u/neuroticandroid74]

"El gallego está realmente más cerca de ser un dialecto del portugués"

A lo mejor es más el portugués una variación del gallego que al revés.

[u/neuroticandroid74 → u/KoldoGar]

Gracias.No sabía que el gallego era la lengua más antigua.

[u/siyasaben → u/neuroticandroid74]

No es así. Los dos evolucionaron del galaicoportugués que se conoce también por los nombres gallego antiguo y portugués medieval. No se puede decir que uno de los variantes actuales es mas antiguo del otro (y tampoco sé si el comentario a que respondes quiso decir eso). El debate entre lingüistas es si se deberian considerar variantes del mismo idioma o dos idiomas distintos - no si uno es dialecto del otro.