History of Asturian

Asturian, which is also known as Bable, is a Romance language spoken by about 550,000 people in parts of Asturias (Asturies) in the north of Spain. Asturian is very closely related to Mirandese and was influenced by the pre-Roman languages spoken in the Asturias region.

Asturian first appeared in writing in 1155. It was used in official documents until the 14th century, when it started to be replaced by Spanish. It was also used to some extent in literature during this period. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, writtten Asturian disappeared from official documents and was only used informally. During the 17th century there was a literary revival started by Anton de Marirreguera.

Nowadays, Asturian codification of Astur-Leonese spoken in the Asturian Autonomous Community has become a modern language, after the birth of “Academy of the Asturian Language” in 1980.