Where did tagalog come from?

[Marico]

I find that learning a little bit of history about an area can enhance the language learning process. I am learning Tagalog so I can speak with my new Filipino friends. Some Tagalog words come from Spanish. Does the rest of the language come from the native culture?

[eppie]

Hi Marico 

I'm a Filipino myself but don't have a clue where it actually originated.  :speechless:

Since our country was under the Spanish rule for around 400 years it's only natural to find Tagalog words with Spanish origins like Libro (which means a "book") but strictly speaking the right Tagalog word for book is "aklat" still most Filipinos consider Libro as a Tagalog word too. So it's really quite confusing even for a Filipino like me and to tell you the truth, I believe that an average Filipino will not be able to answer your question without doing some research first.

But I think the best way to learn Tagalog is to talk as much as you can (in Tagalog) with your Filipino friends.  Also watch Filipino movies and television shows as often as possible.  :grin:

[owesem75]

To know more about the history of TAGALOG language, you can click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language

The pure TAGALOG is actually different from the Tagalog being spoken because of the many dialects in the Philippines and the influence of the Spaniards, it actually evolved into something different and somewhat confusing even to Filipinos as mentioned by the other poster above.

[sidney]

I guess the simple answer to your question is to also think about how the languages from other countries came from. I think they are endemic to the country itself. I'm actually inclined to think that it originated at the Tower Of Babel.

[Nicholls]

Technically, Tagalog is just a dialect mainly used in Region IV, and the Metro Manila. It was chosen as the standard of national language in 1937, and as recognized as the national language by Pres. Manuel L. Quezon. Jose Romero, the Education secretary that time renamed it as Pilipino. This was done to give a sense of being whole, representing the whole country instead of just an ethnic group or a local dialect. But currently, our national language is referred to as Filipino, hence the "Kagawaran ng Wikang Filipino", because it was changed in the 1987 Constitution.

Many Filipino words are lifted from Spanish, some from Chinese, Japanese and English. There are influences because it's colonized by these countries before. The rest are from the diverse culture.

[dylr88]

Tagalog, just like Bisaya Ilocano Javanese and Malay all come from an old Austronesian language, as tribes began to separate all through the years, they began their own dialects,  their language evolved over time, the same way English German and Dutch did.

Tagalog has been influenced all through the several years due to its historical pasts by many other languages such as Spanish, English Japanese even Chinese and Arabic just like other Austronesian languages,  Malay for example. The word Salamat derived from the Arabic Salam which was to greet someone,  but is used to say thank you in tagalog, Kumusta comes from Cómo esta which is how are you in Spanish.

There are many similarities between modern day Tagalog and Malay for example these tagalog words - anak meaning child, mahal meaning expensive, and mata meaning eye are the same in Malay.

Malay is more similar to Tagalog and other Filipino languages than the other Austronesian languages and may have originated from old Malay spoken in what is now Malaysia Brunei and Indonesia many years ago.

[g2narat]

Tagalog, just like Bisaya Ilocano Javanese and Malay all come from an old Austronesian language, as tribes began to separate all through the years, they began their own dialects,  their language evolved over time, the same way English German and Dutch did.

Tagalog has been influenced all through the several years due to its historical pasts by many other languages such as Spanish, English Japanese even Chinese and Arabic just like other Austronesian languages,  Malay for example. The word Salamat derived from the Arabic Salam which was to greet someone,  but is used to say thank you in tagalog, Kumusta comes from Cómo esta which is how are you in Spanish.

There are many similarities between modern day Tagalog and Malay for example these tagalog words - anak meaning child, mahal meaning expensive, and mata meaning eye are the same in Malay.

Malay is more similar to Tagalog and other Filipino languages than the other Austronesian languages and may have originated from old Malay spoken in what is now Malaysia Brunei and Indonesia many years ago.

I figured it was related to Malay and Indonesian since a lot of words are so similar. Plus geographically, they are neighboring countries so it makes sense that they are probably from the same root language. This is interesting though. I never knew such a detailed history of the Tagalog language. Thanks for this! 

[raytalks]

Tagalog, just like Bisaya Ilocano Javanese and Malay all come from an old Austronesian language, as tribes began to separate all through the years, they began their own dialects,  their language evolved over time, the same way English German and Dutch did.

Tagalog has been influenced all through the several years due to its historical pasts by many other languages such as Spanish, English Japanese even Chinese and Arabic just like other Austronesian languages,  Malay for example. The word Salamat derived from the Arabic Salam which was to greet someone,  but is used to say thank you in tagalog, Kumusta comes from Cómo esta which is how are you in Spanish.

There are many similarities between modern day Tagalog and Malay for example these tagalog words - anak meaning child, mahal meaning expensive, and mata meaning eye are the same in Malay.

Malay is more similar to Tagalog and other Filipino languages than the other Austronesian languages and may have originated from old Malay spoken in what is now Malaysia Brunei and Indonesia many years ago.

I have noticed the same. I was in Malaysia and Brunei for a while and have noticed the usage. There are many words that sound familiar in all these languages. And I lived near a philipino with whom I always shared a game of badminton. I realized a lot of the words like salamat, ako, sama sama, dapat and other common word. This points to the fact that they had a few common points of origin.