Ancient Greek

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Etymology

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Onomatopoeic: from the perceived βαρ-βαρ (bar-bar) sounds incomprehensible to Ancient Greeks and spoken by foreigners.[1] 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

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Adjective

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βᾰ́ρβᾰρος (bárbarosm 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 [queen] 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

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ βάρβαρος - Babiniotis, Georgios (2008) Λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας: [] [Dictionary of Modern Greek (language)] (in Greek), 3rd edition, Athens: Kentro Lexikologias [Lexicology Centre], 1st edition 1998, →ISBN.

Further reading

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Greek

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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βάρβαρος (várvarosm (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

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Adjective

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βάρβαρος (várvarosm (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

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Synonyms

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Antonyms

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