* Evolution, not invention: Languages evolve gradually over centuries. Spanish didn't suddenly appear one day, but rather developed from earlier forms of Latin spoken in the Iberian Peninsula.
* No clear "birth certificate": There are no written records from the earliest stages of Spanish development.
* Regional variations: Spanish emerged in various regions of Spain, meaning its development wasn't a uniform process.
What we DO know:
* Origins in Vulgar Latin: Spanish is a Romance language, meaning it descended from Vulgar Latin (the everyday language spoken by Romans, not the formal Classical Latin of literature).
* Early influences: Spanish was influenced by other languages spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, including Basque, Arabic, and Germanic languages.
* Castilian as a base: The dialect of Castilian, spoken in the region of Castile, is considered the basis for modern Spanish.
A rough timeline:
* 3rd century AD: Vulgar Latin began to diverge in different regions of the Roman Empire, including the Iberian Peninsula.
* 8th century AD: Arabic influence became strong in the Iberian Peninsula after the Muslim conquest.
* 10th-13th centuries: Castilian began to emerge as a dominant dialect in Spain.
* 15th-16th centuries: Spanish became standardized and spread throughout the Americas and other parts of the world.
Therefore, we can say Spanish evolved over centuries, with Castilian becoming its dominant form by the 15th-16th centuries. While we can't say definitively when it was first spoken, we can trace its development through historical evidence and linguistics.