Uploaded January 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
In 2013 Carme Jimenez published her book " WE DO NOT COME FROM LATIN " and this interview is about that process. It is now four years later and Carmen has received literally hundreds of reviews, both criticisms of her work and elegies, from all over the world. There is now a new edition which has been translated into Romanian and English. The interview, which had Romanian subtitles, is now in an English version.
Carmen's book basically questions if Latin is in fact the mother of the romance languages. Although she is not the only linguist to argue this, there are more linguists and historians who defend the theory of Latin being the primary root of these languages. And there does seem to be a systematic deafness in the academic world to this "seemingly rare" theory. Not surprising really, because recognising something like this would expose the entire linguistic system and the centuries-old belief in an initial postulate - that Latin is the mother tongue - to the criticism that this new theory has never been objectively reviewed. The real question is were the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula mute before the arrival of the Romans?
Those of us who speak Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese or Romanian have always been told that our language is the result of a "degeneration" of Latin into the Vulgar language, which is a clearly derogatory idea. There is already much evidence that proves that Vulgar Latin did not exist. If this was the case there should be many more "intermediate links" using this "degenerate" Latin on its way towards the Romance languages. However this is not the case. Carmen Jimenez in this book " ROMANCE DID NOT BEGIN IN ROME " makes a plausible case for an alternative view to the widespread accepted theory that deserves exploration.
Carmen Jiménez is a respected Catalan writer, a philologist who has specialised in linguistics. And a Latin teacher! She is exceptionally knowledgeable about her subject. But her well documented research has not been without its controversies. She has faced an academic onslaught from those who oppose her theory as well as for her research on the Iberian language, published in ibers.cat.
But undaunted, her next dream is to create a multidisciplinary team to definitively decipher the Iberian language, which pre-existed here before the Romans’ arrival in the 3rd century BC, and with it, the key to the whole linguistic framework. I recommend not only this interview, but also her book, which makes a fascinating read. All that is needed is an open mind.
Carme Jimenez Huertas
carmejhuertas.blogspot.com.es
http://ibers.cat/
Subtitles: Xavier Sánchez
English edition, Spanish market amazon.es/Romance-Did-Not-Begin-Rome/dp/1984030213
English edition, International market
amazon.com/Romance-Did-Not-Begin-Rome/dp/1984030213
Spanish edition. Spanish market
amazon.es/dp/1522751858
Spanish edition. International market
amazon.com/dp/1522751858
Romanian edition
http://dacia-art.ro/index.php/car-i/carti-pentru-adulti/nu-venim-din-latina.html
cu subtirare în limba română
youtube.com/watch?v=SPI_Y4hdIaU
Un reportaje de Alishia Ninou
timefortruth.es
In 2013 Carme Jimenez published her book " WE DO NOT COME FROM LATIN " and this interview is about that process. It is now four years later and Carmen has received literally hundreds of reviews, both criticisms of her work and elegies, from all over the world. There is now a new edition which has been translated into Romanian and English. The interview, which had Romanian subtitles, is now in an English version.
Carmen's book basically questions if Latin is in fact the mother of the romance languages. Although she is not the only linguist to argue this, there are more linguists and historians who defend the theory of Latin being the primary root of these languages. And there does seem to be a systematic deafness in the academic world to this "seemingly rare" theory. Not surprising really, because recognising something like this would expose the entire linguistic system and the centuries-old belief in an initial postulate - that Latin is the mother tongue - to the criticism that this new theory has never been objectively reviewed. The real question is were the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula mute before the arrival of the Romans?
Those of us who speak Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese or Romanian have always been told that our language is the result of a "degeneration" of Latin into the Vulgar language, which is a clearly derogatory idea. There is already much evidence that proves that Vulgar Latin did not exist. If this was the case there should be many more "intermediate links" using this "degenerate" Latin on its way towards the Romance languages. However this is not the case. Carmen Jimenez in this book " ROMANCE DID NOT BEGIN IN ROME " makes a plausible case for an alternative view to the widespread accepted theory that deserves exploration.
Carmen Jiménez is a respected Catalan writer, a philologist who has specialised in linguistics. And a Latin teacher! She is exceptionally knowledgeable about her subject. But her well documented research has not been without its controversies. She has faced an academic onslaught from those who oppose her theory as well as for her research on the Iberian language, published in ibers.cat.
But undaunted, her next dream is to create a multidisciplinary team to definitively decipher the Iberian language, which pre-existed here before the Romans’ arrival in the 3rd century BC, and with it, the key to the whole linguistic framework. I recommend not only this interview, but also her book, which makes a fascinating read. All that is needed is an open mind.
Carme Jimenez Huertas
carmejhuertas.blogspot.com.es
http://ibers.cat/
Subtitles: Xavier Sánchez
English edition, Spanish market amazon.es/Romance-Did-Not-Begin-Rome/dp/1984030213
English edition, International market
amazon.com/Romance-Did-Not-Begin-Rome/dp/1984030213
Spanish edition. Spanish market
amazon.es/dp/1522751858
Spanish edition. International market
amazon.com/dp/1522751858
Romanian edition
http://dacia-art.ro/index.php/car-i/carti-pentru-adulti/nu-venim-din-latina.html
cu subtirare în limba română
youtube.com/watch?v=SPI_Y4hdIaU
Un reportaje de Alishia Ninou
timefortruth.es
