Galician language

Galician is a western Iberian Romance language spoken chiefly in Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It developed alongside Portuguese from medieval Galician-Portuguese and has its own standardized forms.

Galician-Portuguese: A medieval western Iberian Romance language from which modern Galician and Portuguese developed. Galician shares this medieval ancestor with Portuguese.
Kingdom of Galicia: A medieval polity in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, with changing borders and periods of independence. Its political and cultural history shaped the setting in which Galician-Portuguese developed.
Galicia: An autonomous community in northwestern Spain with its own language, institutions, and Atlantic coast. Galicia is the language’s principal home and the center of its public use.
Official language: A language granted legal status for use by public authorities in a defined territory. Galician shares official status with Spanish in Galicia.
Ibero-Romance languages: The Romance languages that developed in the Iberian Peninsula, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician. This family places Galician among the peninsula’s related Romance languages.
Cantigas de Santa Maria: A thirteenth-century collection of songs in Galician-Portuguese, assembled under the patronage of Alfonso X of Castile. The songs preserve an influential medieval use of the language.
Royal Galician Academy: An institution founded in 1906 to study, protect, and promote the Galician language and culture. It establishes linguistic norms and supports Galician-language research.
Language shift: A process in which a community increasingly uses one language instead of another across generations and settings. Shifts toward Spanish have reduced Galician use in some communities and contexts.
Portuguese language: A Romance language originating in western Iberia and now spoken across several continents. Its close relationship with Galician reflects their shared medieval development.
Alfonso X of Castile: A thirteenth-century king of Castile and León who sponsored major works of scholarship and literature. His court used Galician-Portuguese for a celebrated body of lyric poetry.

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