Bernardo de Aldrete and the Morisco Problem: A Study in Early Modern Spanish Language Ideology

Extract

In 1606, Bernardo José de Aldrete,Sometimes spelled “Alderete;” b.1560 Malaga, d.1641 Cordoba. (See Mondéjar Cumpián 1974 for discussion of the confusion over these dates and places.) Spanish cleric and humanist antiquarian, published the first history of the Spanish language, On the origin and beginnings of the Castilian language or Romance, which is used in Spain today.Henceforth “Origin.” Translations are my own, unless otherwise noted.Aldrete argued that Castilian—also known at the time as Romance and now commonly known as Spanish—had been derived from Latin over centuries of use, with the Visigoths playing a key role in creating the linguistic change.Throughout this paper, “Castilian” and “Spanish” will be used interchangeably to refer to the language in question.