Writing the first Grammar of the Castilian language was a daring on the part of its learned author, Elio Antonio de Nebrija. What today would not cross the walls of the Academy meant then a challenge, almost a heresy, which some criticized him with acrimony. It seems that even Queen Isabella the Catholic questioned a work that gave birth to what had been the vulgar language until then.
Nebrija innovated in this and also in its grammatical concepts, which prioritized phonetics: “We have to write as we pronounce and pronounce as we write”. Knowing so much and using his knowledge to innovate in a matter as delicate as language brought him enemies (including the Inquisition). Luckily for him, he had the support of King Ferdinand, to whom he suggested his famous motto: “Tanto monta”.
