Editing Name of the Spanish language (section)

==={{lang|es|Castellano}}===

{{lang|es|Castilla}} ("[[Castile (historical region)|Castile]]" in English) is commonly thought to mean '[[Castle]]-land'. The word is derived from Latin {{lang|la|castella}}, the plural of {{lang|la|castellum}}, which, in turn, is a diminutive form of {{lang|la|castrum}}' 'fortress, castle'. Through most of the Middle Ages the word was spelled {{lang|osp|Castiella}}, a form that survives in [[Leonese dialect|Leonese]] today. (Modern Spanish has transformed all words ending in {{lang|osp|-iello}}, {{lang|osp|-iella}} into {{lang|es|illo}}, {{lang|es|-illa}}.) The adjective derived from {{lang|es|Castilla}} is {{lang|es|castellano}}. {{lang|es|'Castellano}} also means '[[castellan]]', i.e. a castle master. There is a comic scene based on the play on words ''Castilian''/''castellan'' in the novel ''[[Don Quixote]]'' (Chapter 2).

The region was thus named because it was a [[frontier]] land controlled from a series of fortified castles. It shared borders with rival [[Moorish Iberia]] (to the south) and the Christian kingdoms of [[Kingdom of León|Leon]] (to the west) and [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]] and [[Kingdom of Aragón|Aragon]] (to the east).

In [[Guatemala]], although Spanish is the official language, the [[Maya peoples]], descendants of the original inhabitants of the region, call it ''la castilla'', keeping the original name from colonial times. Mayans speak at least 22 different [[Mayan languages]] and dialects, including [[Mam language|Mam]], [[Poqomam language|Pocomam]], [[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]], [[Tz’utujil language|Tz’utujil]], [[Q’eqchi’ language|Q’eqchi’]], and [[Kʼicheʼ language|Kʼicheʼ]].