a persistent urban legend claims that the prevalence of the sound in spanish can be traced back to a spanish king who spoke with a lisp, and whose pronunciation spread by prestige borrowing to the rest of the population. this myth has been discredited by scholars for lack of evidence. traces the origins of the legend back to a chronicle of pero lópez de ayala stating that peter of castile "lisped a little" (""ceceaba un poco""). however he reigned in the 14th century and the sound began to develop in the 16th century (see below). moreover, it is clear that a true lisp would not give rise to the systematic distinction between and that characterizes standard peninsular pronunciation. for example, a lisp would lead one to pronounce both ('i feel') and ('hundred') the same (as ) whereas in standard peninsular spanish they are pronounced and , respectively.