Hispanicity

Hispanidad is an expression with several meanings, loosely alluding to the group of people, countries and communities sharing the Spanish language and displaying a Spanish-related culture. The term traces back to the early modern period, but it was resignified by Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno in 1909. Afterwards the idea of Hispanidad was adopted in the interwar period by Nationalist, Fascist and Reactionary tendencies. It was since then closely related with Roman Catholicism.

The word "Hispanidad" has existed since the early modern period; it's been found in the Tractado de orthographía y accentos en las tres lenguas principales by Alejo Venegas, printed in 1531, in the sense of "style of linguistic expression". It is featured with a similar meaning in the 1803 edition of the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy, standing as synonym for "Hispanismo" (Hispanism), which in turn was defined as "the peculiar speech of the Spanish language".

In the beginnings of the 20th century, the word and concept Hispanidad, made a comeback with several new meanings. Its reintroduction was attributed to Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno in 1909. It was used by Unamuno on 11 March 1910 in an article by the title La Argentinidad published in Argentinian newspaper La Nación. He compared there the word to other similar expressions such as , , and . Unamuno linked the concept to the multiplicity of peoples speaking the Spanish language, encompassing in turn his idea of race, bestowing it an egalitarian substrate, questioning the very same status of Motherland for Spain; he claimed the need of approaching hispano-american republics in terms of sisterhood (opposing "primacies" and "maternities").

Further development of the concept of Hispanidad had to wait for the 1920s, when a group of intellectuals moved by the ideas of extreme right thinker Charles Maurras rescued the term. As precedent, the Spanish writer José María Salaverría (who lived in Argentina between 1910 and 1913) would have revindicated, although not explicitly, the idea of an Hispanic community comparable to Hispanidad (the leading status of Spain in this community is however a moot point in his work). The term word "Hispanidad" was re-used by Spanish priest Zacarías de Vizcarra (who lived in Buenos Aires). He proposed back in 1926 the need for changing the expression "Fiesta de la Raza" for "Fiesta de la Hispanidad".

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