Before languages were printed, and when most of us were illiterate, the words we used were very local. When the Romans arrived in Portugal in 216 BCE they brought Latin languages with them. As the Roman Empire collapsed the Germanic Migrations started, but those people quickly adopted late Roman culture (fairly common as 'conquered areas' still normally had way more people from the conquered). After the Moorish invasion, Arabic became the administrative language from about 711 CE. Portuguese eventually evolved from the medieval mix spoken in the Kingdom of Galacia. This became the administrative language used (Lingua Franca) as the Portuguese started exploring Africa, Asia and the Americas. Modern Portuguese adopted many words from Classical Greek and Classical Latin during the Renaissance. This started as recently as 1516. Today, Portuguese is the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, and Macau in China.
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