Hispanic can be used as a synonym for Spanish.
The adjective Hispanic is a synonym for Spanish . The term comes from the Latin Hispānus. For example: “He is the fourth Hispanic player hired by the Arab team,” “Hispanic art is going through one of its best historical moments.”
The concept also allows us to refer to people from Spain or any other Spanish-speaking country (whether from America, Asia or Africa) . In this sense, the idea of Hispanic is linked to the mother tongue (Spanish): “Hispanics are not too many on the African continent,” “I was in Switzerland for three months and I barely met one Hispanic: a Colombian boy who washed glasses in a bar.”
Concept of Hispanic in the United States
In the United States , the notion of Hispanic is used to name any person who speaks Spanish or who descends from a family of Hispanic American origin. An Argentinian of Italian origin, a Mexican who descends from indigenous people, or an Ecuadorian with African ancestors are classified interchangeably as Hispanics: “Hispanics are changing the North American physiognomy,” “There have never been so many Hispanics living in New York as now.”
The censuses developed by the US authorities include the notion of Hispanic within the category of ethnicity and separately from race . A Cuban-American can be “Hispanic” and “black” or “Hispanic” and “white,” depending on the case.
This ethnic group in North American lands has become a fundamental part of society, so much so that even when the elections arrive, the different candidates carry out specific acts with the clear objective of having the vote of the Hispanic community , which is very large. , as far as number is concerned.
And we must not lose sight of the fact that in the United States the most spoken language after the mother tongue (English), is Spanish .
In the United States, the idea of Hispanic refers to an ethnicity.
The term in Latin America
In Latin America , on the other hand, the strong Spanish immigration of the 19th and 20th centuries means that this use of the word Hispanic does not make much sense.
Instead, they usually speak of criollos (Latin Americans of Spanish origin or Spaniards born in the American territory), mestizos (descendants of Spaniards and indigenous people) or mulattoes (descendants of Spaniards and Africans).
Famous Hispanics
It is also interesting to emphasize that starting from that term that we are addressing today, we speak of illustrious Hispanics of great value in international history. Among them, reference is made, for example, to Trajan , who is considered the first Hispanic to become emperor of Rome since he was born in Italica , which currently corresponds to Seville .
In the same way, the Catholic kings , the Cid Campeador , Hernán Cortés , Miguel de Cervantes , Diego Velázquez and Francisco Pizarro are also found in the category of important Hispanics.
Currently, when reference is made to internationally famous Hispanics who have a certain weight in society, we speak, above all, of stars from the entertainment world, such as Antonio Banderas , Salma Hayek , Eva Longoria or Jennifer Lopez .