Vlassopoulos notes that the ancient Greeks sometimes used the word in a confusing and contradictory fashion. One problem they had is that there was no agreement among the ancient Greeks as to who spoke Greek and who didn't, at least up until around the time of Alexander the Great. There "existed a variety of local and regional dialects, which were mutually comprehensible to a larger or smaller degree," writes Vlassopoulos. The meaning of the word "barbarian" would change somewhat when Romans many of whom did not speak Greek used the word to refer to all foreigners, especially the wide variety of people who were encroaching on their borders.
These barbarians were never united. Some pillaged the Roman Empire while others became its allies. There were numerous groups, and their allegiances changed over time.
One of these groups, the Baiuvarii , sometimes modified their skulls so that they had an egg-shaped appearance. The most famous "barbarian" from this period was, arguably, Attila the Hun. It can also be used as an adjective meaning crude or uncivilized. Where does barbarian come from? Did you know How is barbarian used in real life? Words related to barbarian lowbrow , philistine , primitive , rough , wild , beast , bigot , boor , brute , clod , hooligan , hun , ignoramus , lout , monster , rascal , ruffian , troglodyte , vandal , barbaric.
The Cradle of Mankind W. The Life of Mazzini Bolton King. Great Men and Famous Women. Derived forms of barbarian barbarianism , noun. Word Origin for barbarian C see barbarous. Does this connection between reason, freedom and democracy represent a particular Western prejudice? Or has Greco-Roman antiquity discovered something true that is of universal significance? On the one hand, there is something to be said about the idea of mankind as a group defined, beyond gender, race, or class, by a characteristic shared by all humans.
On the other, I am not convinced that reason or speech is a characteristic free of prejudice. The Greco-Roman idea of humanity is unthinkable without its opposite. Since to be human is to be civilised, those who behave inhumanly are the uncivilised or barbarians. Who is the barbarian? He is the stranger or foreigner, the one who speaks in a strange tongue. More precisely, he is someone whose speech is unintelligible or who makes incomprehensible sounds like an animal.
Nglish: Translation of barbarian for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of barbarian for Arabic Speakers.
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of barbarian Entry 1 of 2.
Schuytema Much of Italy had slipped from the grasp of the Byzantines, victim to the vigorous Germanic barbarians … who had begun their migration southward from the forested fastnesses of eastern and central Europe. That would be uncouth. Definition of barbarian Entry 2 of 2. Examples of barbarian in a Sentence Adjective people who were regarded as barbarian by the ancient Romans.
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