Catalan is a Romance language spoken in Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Roussillon, Alghero, and the Principality of Andorra, where it is the official language. As a Western Romance language, Catalan is closely related to French and Occitan as well as other Iberian languages, especially Castilian. It is spoken by some 10 million people throughout four political domains.
Catalan derives from Vulgar Latin and it originated in the area of the Pyrenees, the Carolingian territory known as the Hispanic Mark, between the 8th and the 10th centuries. It made its way south to the rest of Catalonia and the Valencian Country (where it is officially called valencià), as well as the Balearic Islands, the Franja in Aragon, and Alghero in Sardinia. Its linguistic border was established at the end of the reign of James I the Conqueror (d. 1276). Even in its earliest attestations, Catalan is closely related to the romance languages spoken in nowadays France, particularly Occitan, and those spoken in the Iberian peninsula, particularly Castilian. Until the 15th century, its orthography and grammar were more closely related to Iberian romance languages. The language however evolved to be closer to its Gallic counterparts and nowadays resembles French more than it does Castilian. This varies through register and dialect. Catalan is divided into two dialectical groups: Western and Eastern, each of which counts with its own subset of dialects, including transitional dialects spoken in the bordering regions. In the Middle Ages, a dialect that blended Hebrew and Catalan known as qatalanit (קאטאלנית) was widely used by the Jewish communities of Catalonia.
The language is usually written in the Latin alphabet, although there is evidence that some Catalan texts were written in Hebrew and Arabic script, especially Hebrew. This is due to Catalonia’s large Hebrew community during the Middle Ages. Like Castilian, Catalan counts with many loanwords from both Arabic and Hebrew. Old Catalan is characterised by its use of interpunct “·” to indicate elision (nowadays an apostrophe), the lack of orthographic accents, the use of “ch” to denote /k/ at the end of the word, as well as the representation of the palatal lateral /ʎ/ as “ll”, which is still used nowadays.
Due to its similarity to Old Provençal or Old Occitan, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly when Catalan originated. In a preliterary form, Catalan words, expressions, and names appeared in written form as early as the 6th century. However, clearer evidence of Catalan as a language is the translation of Liber iudicum (11th century), of which two fragmentary copies survive today. In 1904, a similarly fragmentary sermon book known as the Homilies d’Organyà was discovered in the rectory of Organyà, Catalonia, and is nowadays considered the oldest representation of the Catalan language, as it was composed in the 12th century. As a language, Catalan was consolidated between the 13th and 14th centuries as the Crown of Aragon expanded its domain to Sicily, Sardinia, and Naples, and the Royal Chancery was founded in Barcelona (f. 1218) by James I, where all official documents of the Crown of Aragon were to be written in vernacular, not Latin.
Among the most important works in the Catalan language during the Middle Ages are the Four Great Catalan Chronicles, Ramon Llull’s work (including his book on chivalry, Llibre de cavalleria), the hagiographical works by Francesc Eiximenis centred on the life of Christ, Bernat Metge’s dream vision Lo somni, and Tirant lo Blanch by Joanot Martorell, one of the first modern novels. Catalan literature also accounts for poetry, including the works of Ausiàs March, as well as a troubadouresque tradition following the Occitan authors. Many works of great importance were also translated into Catalan in the Middle Ages from Italian (Divine Comedy, Decameron), Latin (Flor dels sants or Legenda aurea, as well as the Bible), French (several romances), and Castilian.
After the union of the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Castile during the Catholic Monarchs’ reign (late 15th century), Catalan entered a significant decline in written usage, although some of the major works in the language date from the 14th and 15th centuries. Miguel de Cervantes took inspiration from Tirant lo Blanch to compose his famous Don Quixote. The 18th century saw the Renaixença or Rebirth of Catalan culture and language, and the Jocs Florals, a poetry competition with mediaeval origins, was reinstated in Barcelona, promoting the language in literary form.
Catalan is used in four political territories (Spain, Andorra, Italy, and France) and was spoken until the 1960s in Algeria due to the French occupation. Castilian has many loanwords from Catalan, such as cantimplora (canteen), sastre (tailor), calamar (squid), pantalla (screen), among others. Many movies and television shows continue to be dubbed in the language: notable examples are The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Disney movies such as the Frozen franchise, The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, as well as a wide array of anime series such as Dragon Ball. Simultaneously, some Catalan media has been dubbed into other languages, such as the popular children’s show Les Tres Bessones (The Triplets). Podcasts, radio programmes, newspapers, magazines, as well as social media content are produced in Catalan every day. Several official communities of Catalan speakers exist around Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Japan, ensuring the celebration of the Catalan culture around the world.
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