βάρβαρος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Onomatopoeic: from the perceived βαρ-βαρ (bar-bar) sounds incomprehensible to Ancient Greeks and spoken by foreigners. As an onomatopoeic construction, βαρ-βαρ is similar to modern English blah blah, but meaning gibberish, gabble; compare also babble from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-. Cognate to Mycenaean Greek 𐀞𐀞𐀫 (pa-pa-ro) and Sanskrit बर्बर (barbara, “barbarian, non-Aryan, stammering, blockhead”).

Possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *balb-, *balbal- (“tongue-tied”). Compare with Latin balbus (“stammering, stuttering”), Russian болтать (boltatʹ, “to chatter, babble”) and балабол(“over-talkative”, chatterbox), Lithuanian balbė́ti (“to talk, babble”), Sanskrit बल्बला (balbalā, “stammering”), Albanian belbët (“stammering”).

For the semantic development, compare Arabic عَجَم (ʕajam, “non-Arab; Persian”), from the root ع ج م (ʕ-j-m), referring to people who speak unclearly, or Proto-Slavic *němьcь (“non-Slav, German”), from *němъ (“mute”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

βᾰ́ρβᾰρος • (bárbaros) m or f (neuter βᾰ́ρβᾰρον); second declension (Attic, Ionic, Koine)

1. non-Greek-speaking, foreign
   1. (in the plural) non-Greek peoples
      1. Medes or Persians
         • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 1.2.14:

           Καὶ λέγεται δεηθῆναι ἡ Κίλισσα Κύρου ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ στράτευμα αὐτῇ: βουλόμενος οὖν ἐπιδεῖξαι ἐξέτασιν ποιεῖται ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τῶν βαρβάρων.

           Kaì légetai deēthênai hē Kílissa Kúrou epideîxai tò stráteuma autêi: boulómenos oûn epideîxai exétasin poieîtai en tôi pedíōi tôn Hellḗnōn kaì tôn barbárōn.

           And it is said that the Cilician asked Cyrus to show her his troops. So since he wanted to show them to her, he held a review of the Greeks and Persians in the field.

2. (derogatory) barbaric, brutal, rude

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

• Greek: βάρβαρος m (várvaros)
• → Arabic: بَرْبَر (barbar)
  • → English: Berber
• → Old Armenian: բարբարոս (barbaros)
  • Armenian: բարբարոս (barbaros)
• → French: barbare
• → Old Georgian: ბარბაროსი (barbarosi), ბარბაროზი (barbarozi)
  • Georgian: ბარბაროსი (barbarosi)
• → Latin: barbarus m, barbara f
  • → English: barbarian
  • → German: Barbar
  • → Icelandic: barbari m
  • → Polish: barbarzyńca m
• → Middle Persian: 𐬠𐬀𐬭𐬠𐬀𐬭𐬍𐬔 (barbarīg)
  • Persian: بربری (barbari)
• → Portuguese: bárbaro m, bárbara f
• → Russian: ва́рвар m (várvar)

References

Further reading

• “βάρβᾰρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “βάρβαρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• βάρβαρος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• βάρβαρος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “βάρβαρος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G915 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• βάρβαρος in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • alien idem, page 22.
  • barbarian idem, page 62.
  • barbaric idem, page 62.
  • barbarous idem, page 62.
  • eastern idem, page 260.
  • fanatical idem, page 306.
  • foreign idem, page 336.
  • orient idem, page 579.
  • oriental idem, page 579.
  • outlandish idem, page 582.
  • rude idem, page 724.
  • savage idem, page 735.
  • strange idem, page 823.
  • uncivilised idem, page 909.
  • uncouth idem, page 911.
  • wild idem, page 979.

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvarvaros/
• Hyphenation: βάρ‧βα‧ρος

Noun

βάρβαρος • (várvaros) m (plural βάρβαροι)

1. barbarian
   • Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933), Περιμένοντας τους Bαρβάρους [Waiting for the Barbarians] and audio at The official website of the Cavafy Archive

     Τι περιμένουμε στην αγορά συναθροισμένοι;
     Είναι οι βάρβαροι να φθάσουν σήμερα.

     Ti periménoume stin agorá synathroisménoi?
     Eínai oi várvaroi na fthásoun símera.

     What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
     The barbarians are due here today.

Declension

Adjective

βάρβαρος • (várvaros) m (feminine βάρβαρη, neuter βάρβαρο)

1. barbarous, barbaric, uncivilised

   Τι βάρβαρος άνθρωπος! Χτυπάει τη γυναίκα του.

   Ti várvaros ánthropos! Chtypáei ti gynaíka tou.

   What a barbaric man he is! He hits his wife.

Declension

Synonyms

• απολίτιστος (apolítistos, “uncivilised”)

Antonyms

• πολιτισμένος (politisménos, “civilised”, participle)

Related terms

• βαρβαρικός (varvarikós, “barbaric”)
• βαρβαρισμός m (varvarismós, “grammatical mistake in the use of language”)
• βαρβαριστί (varvaristí, “in foreign language, or with grammatical mistakes”, adverb)
• βαρβαρότητα f (varvarótita, “barbarity”)
• εκβαρβαρίζω (ekvarvarízo, “barbarize”)
• εκβαρβαρισμός m (ekvarvarismós, “barbarization”)
• εκβαρβαρώνω (ekvarvaróno, “barbarize”)
• εκβαρβάρωση f (ekvarvárosi, “barbarization”)
• μειξοβάρβαρος (meixovárvaros, “mixed, not genuine Greek”)