The Spanish language arose from the Latin language, which is the language of the Roman Empire. During the third and second centuries BC, the Roman armies invaded the Iberian Peninsula (now Spain and Portugal) and the Iberians gradually adopted the language of the invaders, which is Latin (vernacular) as their language. In the early fifth century AD, Germanic tribes called (Goths) seized the Iberian Peninsula, and the Goths continued to dominate it until 711 AD. However, they had little influence on the language. In that year the Arab Muslims conquered all but a small part of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula. And they ruled most of that region until the middle of the thirteenth century AD. Muslims have added about 700 Arabic words to the vernacular Latin, but this language has not undergone any change in its sounds and grammatical structure.