Spanish people are known as Spaniards, they are an ethnic group indigenous to Spain. In the country of Spain, there’re several national and regional ethnic groups who are a reflection of the history of Spain, it includes several different languages, both indigenous as well as local linguistic descendants Latin language imposed by the Roman, moreover Spanish is the official and the largest language which is spoken throughout the whole country.
Spanish, on the other hand, is the Romance language of the Indo-European languages (which are language family native to the majority of Europe), which evolved from only colloquial spoken Latin in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe, to becoming a global language with almost 500 million indigenous speakers. Furthermore, Spanish is the official language of at least 20 countries, as it’s the second world’s most spoken language after Mandarin Chinese. The largest population of Spanish speakers is in Mexico.
Spanish means of or relating to Spain, meaning anything that is related to Spain is called Spanish. For instance, the language of Spain is Spanish.
The difference between Spaniards and Spanish is that Spaniards refers to the people who are native to the country of Spain, and Spanish is a native language of Spain, which is spoken by many Spaniard people. Spanish also means of or relating to Spain, basically, it means that the people who are related to the country Spain are known as Spanish. This can also be a difference between Spanish and Spaniards, things or anything which is related to Spain is called Spanish, while Spaniards refer solely to the people who’re from Spain.
Learn more about the history of Spain with this animated video.
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What does Spaniard mean?
The word Spaniard means a native or inhabitant of Spain or a person of Spanish descent.
Spaniards refer to the people who are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain, and Spanish is the language that is spoken by Spaniards.
Castilian Spanish is the most spoken dialect in the European country which is also the language of Spaniard people.
The population of Spaniard people is about 84.8%, compared to other ethnic groups, its population rate is major.
Are Spaniards and Spanish the same?
Spaniard is a noun that refers to the people who’re native to Spain, whereas Spanish denotes a relation to Spain, basically, Spanish in this case is an adjective.
Spanish also refers to the people of Spain, however, most people call a Spanish-speaker Spanish, this is where the problem takes place, a person who speaks the language Spanish is Hispanic and a person who’s from or indigenous to Spain is Spanish.
The correct way of referring to the people of Spain is by using the word Spaniard rather than Spanish. By “people of Spain,” what I meant is the people who’re indigenous to Spain.
When someone says, “I’m Spaniard” it shows that their English isn’t good because it should have been “I’m a Spaniard,” while “the Spanish” refers to the people of Spain collectively.
There’s nothing derogatory about the word “Spaniard,” however news channels and almost all the people still use the word “Spanish” to refer to the people of Spain.
As we know, Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the world, in the period of the Spanish Empire many people migrated from Spain to the conquered lands and the Spaniards brought the Castilian language and culture with them, thereby it lasted for several centuries and created a global empire with a diverse population.
Where do Spaniards descend from?
The genetics of Spanish people majorly derives from the pre-Roman occupants of the Iberian Peninsula, including pre-Indo-European as well as Indo-European speaking pre-Celtic communities (Iberians, Vettones, Turdetani, and Aquitani), and Celts (Gallaecians, Celtiberians, Turduli and Celtici), who were Romanized by the ancient Romans after the conquest of the region.
Furthermore, a minority of male lineages can be descendants of Germanic tribes, who came as the ruling elites after the Roman period which includes, the Suebi, HasdingiVandals, Alans, and Visigoths.
If we talk about the religion of the Spanish People, Roman Catholicism is the largest denomination that is present in Spain, however, the number of people who believe in Roman Catholicism has been decreasing.
A study by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research in 2018 says, around 68.5% of Spaniards have self-identified themselves as Catholics, 25% of them have become atheists or declared that they have no religion, and 2% of Spaniards are of other faith.
A survey data for 2019 shows that the Catholics went down to 69%, “other faith” went up to 2.8%, and atheists or non-believers went up as well to 27%.
What’s the difference between Spaniards and Hispanics?
The only difference that can be noted between Spaniards and Hispanics is that Spaniards refer to the people who’re aboriginal to the country of Spain, while Hispanic refers to the people who speak Spanish and have a background in a Spanish-speaking country, basically, Hispanic people are those who speak Spanish or their ancestors did.
The term ‘Hispanic’ in Spanish is ‘Hispano’, it refers to people, cultures, or countries that are related to Spain, the Spanish language, and/or Hispanidad (Hispanidad refers to the people, countries, and communities that share the Spanish language and Hispanic culture).
As the Roman Republic ruled Iberia during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. thus the term Hispania was given to Iberia by the Romans as a province of their Empire.
The terms Spanish, Spain, and Spaniard have the same etymology as Hispanus, ultimately. Furthermore, The Spanish language is the major cultural element that is shared by Hispanic peoples.
Here is a table for the differences between Spaniards, Spanish, and Hispanics.
| Spaniard | Spanish | Hispanic |
| It’s used to refer to the people indigenous to Spain | It’s used to refer to the people, nationality, culture, language, and other things that are related to Spain. | It’s used to refer to the people who speak Spanish or have a background in a Spanish-speaking country |
Are people from Spain Spaniard or Spanish?
There are many ethnic groups inhabiting Spain, and the people who are indigenous to Spain are known as Spaniards, however, you can also call them Spanish people. But the problem with calling them Spanish is that it refers to the people of Spain collectively, whereas the term Spaniard is used for an individual.
Spain is quite a huge country, thus there’re several nationalities and regional populations that reside in it. This includes the Andalusians, Castilians, Catalans, Valencians, and Balearics (who speak the language which is a Romance language in eastern Spain), the Basques ( who speak a non-Indo-European language), and lastly the Galicians (who speak Galician).
Respect for the existing cultural pluralism is important to Spaniards, there are many regions where there exist strong regional identities, for instance, Asturias, Aragon, the Canary Islands, León, and Andalusia, whereas, in other regions, like Catalonia, or Galicia, there exist strong national sentiments.
Moreover, there’re many people who refuse to identify as the Spanish ethnic group, they prefer to be identified as the following nationalities and regional identities:
- Andalusian people
- Aragonese people
- Asturian people
- Balearic people
- Basque people
- Canary Islanders
- Cantabrian people
- Castilian people
- Catalan people
- Extremaduran people
- Galician people
- Leonese people
- Valencian people
To Conclude
Spain is a big country, thus there’re many ethnic groups who are inhabiting there. A person who’s native or originates from the country of Spain is known as Spaniard, while Spanish is referred to as the people of Spain collectively.
Spaniards speak a language called Castilian Spanish which is the most spoken dialect in the European country.
Spaniards and Hispanics also have differences, Hispanic people are those who speak Spanish or have a background in a Spanish-speaking country like Spain.