What made them separate? For example, fazer and hacer have same meaning - this verb is super common in both languages, so how i... More
Short answer - In 1290/1296 CE when King Diniz declared that Portuguese was the official language (and not merely a regional variation of (what later became) Spanish).
Long answer -
Background:
Spanish and Portuguese are both Latinate languages which are derived from vulgar Latin (the spoken form of Classical Latin). During the Roman empire the citizens of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) likely spoke a somewhat similar dialect of the vulgar language, Proto-Romance. Following the collapse of the empire, the spoken language differentiated into Western-Romance and then into Iberian-Romance.
There were several conquering tribes following the Romans, but the most important and likely the most influential conquest of Spain and Portugal was the Moorish invasion. The Moors ruled Spain for over 700 years and the majority of speakers spoke Arabic (the administrative language) and Mozarabic. Mozarabic being the continuum of Latin dialects in Moorish conquered regions.
By 500 CE, there were five main regional dialects of Iberian-Romance (Galician, Leonese, Aragonese, Castilian, and Catalan). Portuguese is derived from the Galician dialect and modern Spanish (castellano) is derived from Castilian. The dialects continued to diverge and evolve.
Galician-Portuguese had became a distinct language following the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal (~1130 CE) and then started to experience a split into Galician and Portuguese. Castilian became the de facto language of Spain following the Reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella (late 1400s CE).
Back to the question:
The exact dates of when Portuguese and Spanish became distinctly separate is difficult to say but there are examples of Galician-Portuguese in literature from the 800s CE. Following the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, the University of Lisbon was established in 1290 CE, with Portuguese as the official language. So that could be the "true" point at which Portuguese and Spanish became distinctly separate (officially).
Linguistically there is not a lot of difference between Spanish and Portuguese (especially when comparing written languages, as opposed to spoken).
For example:
Spanish:
A buen entendedor pocas palabras bastan
Portuguese:
Para bom entendedor, poucas palavras bastam
(For the wise man, only a few words are necessary)
The actual differences between Spanish and Portuguese are actually quite well understood.
The Portuguese verb fazer (to do) and Spanish hacerboth come from Latin facere. Portuguese is more similar to Latin than Spanish, due to the absence of foreign language contact. Portuguese sounds, grammar, and syntax are highly derivative of Vulgar Latin. A high percentage (almost 90%) of modern vocabulary are still derived from the Vulgar.
To understand the differences between fazer and hacer, it is helpful to have some understanding of linguistics and sound change but not strictly necessary.
Since Spanish hacer is the most different from the Latin facere, I'll start with that.
Most obvious is the debuccalization of the sound [f] at the beginning of the word. This was the substitution of the labiodental [f] for the silent [h]
farina > harina
forma > horma
fumu > humo
facere > fazer > hacer
Also apparent is the reduction of the infinitives (-ire, -ere, -are) to (-ir, -er, -ar).
facere > facer
dicere > decir
pacare > pagar
Not obvious is the change from the voiceless velar stop [k] to the unvoiced [θ] before the vowels [e] and [i]. This change accounts for the supposed "lisp" in Spain.
facere (fakere) > hacer (a'θer)
centum > ciento
In Portuguese, some of the same changes occurred (reduction of the infinitive form). Other changes also happened:
Palatalisation of voiceless stops. As seen above the voiceless velar stop [k] in Latin changed, but this time it was changed to [z].
centum > cento (sento)
facere > fazer
The differences between languages are discreet as opposed to continuous.
Long answer -
Background:
Spanish and Portuguese are both Latinate languages which are derived from vulgar Latin (the spoken form of Classical Latin). During the Roman empire the citizens of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) likely spoke a somewhat similar dialect of the vulgar language, Proto-Romance. Following the collapse of the empire, the spoken language differentiated into Western-Romance and then into Iberian-Romance.
There were several conquering tribes following the Romans, but the most important and likely the most influential conquest of Spain and Portugal was the Moorish invasion. The Moors ruled Spain for over 700 years and the majority of speakers spoke Arabic (the administrative language) and Mozarabic. Mozarabic being the continuum of Latin dialects in Moorish conquered regions.
By 500 CE, there were five main regional dialects of Iberian-Romance (Galician, Leonese, Aragonese, Castilian, and Catalan). Portuguese is derived from the Galician dialect and modern Spanish (castellano) is derived from Castilian. The dialects continued to diverge and evolve.
Galician-Portuguese had became a distinct language following the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal (~1130 CE) and then started to experience a split into Galician and Portuguese. Castilian became the de facto language of Spain following the Reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella (late 1400s CE).
Back to the question:
The exact dates of when Portuguese and Spanish became distinctly separate is difficult to say but there are examples of Galician-Portuguese in literature from the 800s CE. Following the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, the University of Lisbon was established in 1290 CE, with Portuguese as the official language. So that could be the "true" point at which Portuguese and Spanish became distinctly separate (officially).
Linguistically there is not a lot of difference between Spanish and Portuguese (especially when comparing written languages, as opposed to spoken).
For example:
Spanish:
A buen entendedor pocas palabras bastan
Portuguese:
Para bom entendedor, poucas palavras bastam
(For the wise man, only a few words are necessary)
The actual differences between Spanish and Portuguese are actually quite well understood.
The Portuguese verb fazer (to do) and Spanish hacerboth come from Latin facere. Portuguese is more similar to Latin than Spanish, due to the absence of foreign language contact. Portuguese sounds, grammar, and syntax are highly derivative of Vulgar Latin. A high percentage (almost 90%) of modern vocabulary are still derived from the Vulgar.
To understand the differences between fazer and hacer, it is helpful to have some understanding of linguistics and sound change but not strictly necessary.
Since Spanish hacer is the most different from the Latin facere, I'll start with that.
Most obvious is the debuccalization of the sound [f] at the beginning of the word. This was the substitution of the labiodental [f] for the silent [h]
farina > harina
forma > horma
fumu > humo
facere > fazer > hacer
Also apparent is the reduction of the infinitives (-ire, -ere, -are) to (-ir, -er, -ar).
facere > facer
dicere > decir
pacare > pagar
Not obvious is the change from the voiceless velar stop [k] to the unvoiced [θ] before the vowels [e] and [i]. This change accounts for the supposed "lisp" in Spain.
facere (fakere) > hacer (a'θer)
centum > ciento
In Portuguese, some of the same changes occurred (reduction of the infinitive form). Other changes also happened:
Palatalisation of voiceless stops. As seen above the voiceless velar stop [k] in Latin changed, but this time it was changed to [z].
centum > cento (sento)
facere > fazer
The differences between languages are discreet as opposed to continuous.
How did words with the same spelling and meaning in Spanish and Portuguese end up sounding differently in each language?
... More
2 ANSWERS
But isn't this a case of just different accents? People in different places pronounce the exact same words in a variety of ways, even if they speak the same language.
This difference can even occur in neighboring places, such as São Paulo and Rio, where the pronunciation of certain phonemes are quite different.
For example, I find that the accent from Buenos Aires for Spanish is very very close to the accent in São Paulo for Portuguese - more so than the accent from Portugal for Portuguese (I'm from Brazil and I'm fluent in Spanish). São Paulo and Buenos Aires have had very little cultural exchange throughout the years - I would attribute the similarities due to the fact that both cities had a strong Italian influence during their early years (but, really, I'm just guessing on this one).
This difference can even occur in neighboring places, such as São Paulo and Rio, where the pronunciation of certain phonemes are quite different.
For example, I find that the accent from Buenos Aires for Spanish is very very close to the accent in São Paulo for Portuguese - more so than the accent from Portugal for Portuguese (I'm from Brazil and I'm fluent in Spanish). São Paulo and Buenos Aires have had very little cultural exchange throughout the years - I would attribute the similarities due to the fact that both cities had a strong Italian influence during their early years (but, really, I'm just guessing on this one).
This is not a case of individual words having different pronunciations. Rather, some of these are regular sound changes as Latin descended into Spanish and Portuguese. There are different reasons for each regular change you can observe. In the examples you give:
Portuguese "ch" = English "sh" instead of "ch"
Portuguese "rr" (and initial "r") = like Spanish "j"
But then Portuguese itself alters the pronunciation of some sounds when they occur word-final:
Portuguese final "L" = sounds like Spanish "u"
Portuguese final "te" = sounds like Spanish "chi"
Portuguese final "de" = sounds like English "ji"
Note that in general, final "e" tends to sounds like Spanish "i", and that a second phenomemon called palatilzation alters the t/d to make "ch"/"j" before an "i". English has a similar phenomenon: In rapid speech many people say "Doncha?" instead of "Don't you?" (the "ty" palatalizes to "ch")
Also there are seven Portuguese vowel sounds (and their nasalized counterparts) compared to Spanish's five. But both of these are smaller sets than the set of original Latin vowels. The two languages just reduced them in different ways.
Portuguese "ch" = English "sh" instead of "ch"
Portuguese "rr" (and initial "r") = like Spanish "j"
But then Portuguese itself alters the pronunciation of some sounds when they occur word-final:
Portuguese final "L" = sounds like Spanish "u"
Portuguese final "te" = sounds like Spanish "chi"
Portuguese final "de" = sounds like English "ji"
Note that in general, final "e" tends to sounds like Spanish "i", and that a second phenomemon called palatilzation alters the t/d to make "ch"/"j" before an "i". English has a similar phenomenon: In rapid speech many people say "Doncha?" instead of "Don't you?" (the "ty" palatalizes to "ch")
Also there are seven Portuguese vowel sounds (and their nasalized counterparts) compared to Spanish's five. But both of these are smaller sets than the set of original Latin vowels. The two languages just reduced them in different ways.
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