PORTUGUESE

PORTUGUESE. A Romance language of Western Europe, closely related to SPANISH and the earliest of the major colonial languages originating in Europe. It is spoken by 135m people worldwide: in Europe, as the national language of Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira, islands in the Atlantic); in the Americas, as the official language of Brazil; in Africa, as the official language of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Saõ Tomé and Príncipe; in Asia, as the official language of the Portuguese colony of Macao, near Hong Kong, and in ex-colonial territories such as Goa in India and East Timor in the Indian Ocean. It is also spoken by immigrant communities in Canada, France, the US, and elsewhere, and has given rise to or influenced PIDGINS and CREOLES in many parts of the world. Like Spanish, it was influenced by ARABIC during the centuries of Muslim dominance in the Iberian peninsula. Although Portugal is the oldest ally of England (since the 14c), the impact of Portuguese on English has been slight. LOANWORDS (some of them undergoing adaptation) include albino, auto-da-fe, ayah, caste, madeira, marmalade, molasses, palaver, and port (wine). Many such words have reached English indirectly, as with ayah and caste, which are the outcome of Portuguese influence on English in India. See BORROWING, INDIAN ENGLISH, ROMANCE LANGUAGES.