Comparisons with Greek as a Tool for Asserting the Prestige of the Castilian Language in Golden Age Spain

Abstract

The article addresses the subject of the use of Greek in the apologiae for Castilian (Spanish) language, drawing upon the key Spanish scientific treatises, and literary texts of the Spanish Golden Age (end of the 15th — first half of the 17th centuries), which mention Greek in an attempt to assert the prestige of Castilian. Particular attention is paid to the judgments about Greek and native languages expressed in the works of A. de Nebrija, J. de Valdés, C. de Villalón, F. de Medina, A. de Morales, F. de Quevedo, G. Correas and other writers and thinkers. Most studies in the field have always been primarily focused on the comparisons of Romance languages with their “mother”, Latin, while the use of Greek in the apologiae for Castilian has been a less frequent topic of study. The author comes to a conclusion that Greek invariably acts as the highest reference point for the Spanish grammarians, philologists and thinkers (and as an arbitrator or, sometimes, an "ally" of Castilian), while the attitudes towards Latin evolve over the course of the 15th–17th centuries.