Meaning of Galician in English:

Galician

Translate Galician into Spanish

adjective

1Relating to Galicia in north-western Spain, its people, or their language.
‘Since his death, and the installation of a democratic regime (parliamentary monarchy) in Spain, however, a revival of Galician language and culture has taken place.’
- ‘The book is translated from the Galician language of north west Spain.’
- ‘Given the original play's Galician setting - Spain's craggy north-west - that combination of author, company, adaptor and director make it as Celtic a melange as it's possible to get.’
- ‘That relatively small slick of about 3,000 tonnes tarred beaches up and down about 125 miles of Spain's Galician coast.’
- ‘The Galician language has no Celtic roots, being more of a close relation to Portuguese, but it has fought a continuing battle for recognition.’
- ‘The 26-year-old Prestige was on its way from Latvia to Singapore with a 77,000-tonne oil cargo when it radioed for help off the Galician coast of Spain.’
- ‘Two oil slicks have already washed ashore in the Galician region of Spain, contaminating one of the most productive ocean fisheries and shellfish beds in Europe.’
- ‘The fishing ban extends southward along Spain's Galician coast to the Mino river - the border with Portugal - and up to Cedeira, 100 kilometres north of La Coruna.’
- ‘Less than three weeks after the tanker Prestige sank off Spain's Galician coast, the European Commission has published a blacklist of 66 dangerous merchant vessels it wants banned from European waters.’
- ‘The capital of the Galician province at the north-west point of Spain now exports more immigrants to Argentina than any other and is allegedly one of the main European gateways for the fast-expanding South American drugs industry.’
- ‘Spain's passionate exponent of the native Galician bagpipes, who first came to international attention with The Chieftains, will be doing his usual one-man band act with his whistles and recorders.’
- ‘The political separation induced slow differentiation of Galician-Portuguese into today's Galician and Portuguese languages, though there are still lots of commonalities.’
- ‘Shellfish are also part of the staple diet in Galicia and the many crustaceans, of which ‘percebes’ is a particular example, will give you an indication of a Galician delicacy.’
- ‘There are rias in several other regions of the world as well as near by the Galician ones in such a way that, per example, it is possible to find rias in Norway known as fjords, in Scotland known as lochs, and in Brittany known as abers.’
- ‘The master of the gaita (the Galician version of the bagpipe), Nunez embraces a range of influences including the Celtic strains of Ireland, Scotland and Brittany.’
- ‘What the journalist wrote: The sinking of the oil tanker Prestige and the subsequent threat to the Galician coastline is the latest in a seemingly endless catalogue of crimes against the environment.’
- ‘The slick close to Spain's shores was bigger than the 5,000 tons of fuel oil spilled when the Prestige was holed off the Galician coast on November 13.’
- ‘Spain's central government also issued the first details of its own rescue plans, including a publicity campaign plugging Galician fish and seafood as safe to eat.’
- ‘In particular, I want to drive up the Douro valley from Porto to the vineyards where the grapes for port wine are grown, and I want to see more of the estuaries of the Galician coast.’
- ‘Spain said yesterday it had spotted four oil slicks, including one near the wreckage, about 150 miles off the Galician coast.’
2Relating to Galicia in east central Europe.
‘The central role that Catholicism plays in Galician culture is also evident in the tall stone crosses called cruceiros found throughout the region.’
- ‘In 1921 Jewish democratic organizations supported Galician intellectual circles in their demands to establish Ukrainian university in Lviv.’
- ‘We don't know the woman's name, but simply that she was killed in the Tarnopol Ghetto along with the rest of the 500,000-strong community of Galician Jews.’

Pronunciation

Galician

/ɡəˈlɪsɪən/

/ɡəˈlɪʃ(ɪ)ən/

noun

1A native or inhabitant of Galicia in north-western Spain.
‘The Galicians are descended from Spain's second wave of Celtic invaders (from the British Isles and western Europe) who came across the Pyrenees mountains in about 400 BC.’
- ‘Before the trip to northern Spain for the return leg against the Galicians, Celtic have to face Hibernian on Wednesday night and then Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday.’
- ‘Spanish communities in the United States, in keeping with their strong regional identification in Spain, have established centers for Galicians, Asturians, Andalucians, and other such groups.’
- ‘This involved in particular the Basques, the Bretons, the Galicians, the Catalans, the Occitanians, the Welsh and the the Irish.’
- ‘The other groups are the Galicians, Basques, Catalans, Levante, and Andalusians.’
- ‘His is a thesis that coastal peoples Celts, Bretons, and Galicians, to name a few from Iceland to Gibraltar had more in common with one another than they did with their inland kin.’
- ‘It is what gives lie to the delusion the Basques - and the Catalans and some Galicians - have that they are culturally different from their Iberian neighbours.’
- ‘Since the death of Franco, a Galician not particularly sympathetic to his native land, the regional language and literature have undergone a revival that patriotic commentators compare to the golden age of the troubadours.’
- ‘His complaints may, in fact, reflect an Iberian phenomenon - the enslavement of Basques and Galicians - which he transplanted to France.’
- ‘Cape Bretoners, Galicians, Basques and Quebecois will all be arriving.’
- ‘The Catalans followed in 1983 and the Galicians in 1984.’
- ‘They have been joined by three other Spanish groups, the Basques, Galicians and Valencians who also want their languages officially recognised.’
- ‘Vigo beat the European champions AC Milan in the last group game to seal their knockout place and the Galicians should give Arsenal a stiff test, especially in Vigo itself.’
- ‘Leeds United would recall how only the frame of the goal prevented the Galicians from threatening something similar after a 3-deficit from the first leg of their 2000-1 quarter-final.’
- ‘The Galicians themselves believe their most characterful wine comes from Condado de Salvatierra and El Rosal, bordering the River Miño and the Portuguese frontier.’
- ‘The transplanted Irish tradition flowered in New York, that of the Galicians in Cuba.’
- ‘Dionika was started up by a Galician named Juan Blanco, who came to Scotland as a fish buyer.’
- ‘Like their neighbors in other parts of Spain, the vast majority of Galicians are Roman Catholic.’
- ‘Most Galicians will go home for lunch and have a large meal followed by a period of relaxation.’
- ‘And Galicians are the mean, but hardworking type, not the let's do-fiesta-all-night-long type.’
1. 1.1mass noun The language of Galicia in north-western Spain, a Romance language closely related to Portuguese. It is spoken by about 3 million people, most of whom also speak Spanish.
  ‘Portuguese is a Romance language that is most closely related to the Spanish dialect Galician.’
  ‘Similar examples can also be found in Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian; and Spanish.’
  ‘One of the oddest feature of the cantigas is that, though they were composed and sung at court, their language is provincial Galician - the language subsequently Latinised to constitute the Portuguese of Luís de Camões.’
  ‘The Romans also bequeathed Galicia a precious gift, its two languages: Spanish, which is now spoken by over 400 million people worldwide, and Galician, spoken by some 2.8 million people.’
  ‘It's written in Galician, a dialect of Spanish.’
  ‘The European Union also granted semiofficial status Monday to three other regional languages: Basque, Catalan and Galician.’
  ‘No complete translation of Shakespeare into Galician has been produced so far, the various versions being either individual attempts or providing the scripts for stage performance in that language.’
  ‘Sue wanted the girls to learn classic Castilian - the most widely used form of Spanish - versus Catalan, Galician, or Basque.’
  ‘Castilian is a Romance (Latin-based) language, as are most of the other regional languages, including Catalan and Galician.’
  ‘Catalan broadcasts reach into the linguistically-related Occitan areas of France, and Galician can be heard in northern Portugal.’
  ‘Catalan, Basque and Galician received a different status which stops short of recognising them as official languages.’
  ‘The couple are now finalising the purchase of a three-bedroom house near Muros, a pretty fishing village not far from Finisterre, or Fisterra - Galician for Land's End.’
  ‘During the Franco years, effectively Catalan, Galician and Basque didn't exist, weren't allowed to be spoken or used in any public manner at all, or taught.’
  ‘You're invited to travel through our language's history, read its main facts, learn how some English words are said in Galician and visit other webs of interest about this subject.’
2A native or inhabitant of Galicia in east central Europe.