barbarism

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English barbarisme,^[2] borrowed from Old French barbarisme,^[3][4][2][5] recorded in French from the 13th century,^[6][7] from Latin barbarismus (“use of a foreign tongue, faulty speech”),^[8][6][7] from Ancient Greek βαρβαρισμός (barbarismós, “foreign way of speaking”),^[6][9][5] from βαρβαρίζω (barbarízō, “to behave or speak like a foreigner”),^[6][8][3][4] from βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “non-Greek, foreign”),^[8][10][7] which the American Heritage Dictionary takes as imitating the sound of speech one cannot understand.^[8] The Middle English Dictionary gives Old French and Medieval Latin as its sources,^[2] and Merriam-Webster derives it from Middle French.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rudeness, lack of culture: before 1447, in Bokenham, who complains that the native rudeness of his mother tongue has infected his speech with the barbarisme of the soil where he grew up.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary files the quotation under "uncivilized or rude nature".^[2] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date the word to the 15th century,^[7][4] while the OED's first record is from 1578.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Greek, Latin and French the word was used only of speech, and its extension to an uncivilized social condition, the sense of French barbarie and Latin barbaria, happened only in English.^[6][7] Bokenham's barbarisme already stands between the two, the rudeness of a provincial speech.^[2] From 1578, in Lyly's Euphues, it meant the use of words not in keeping with the classical standard of a language, especially of foreign words; from 1589 it also meant such a word or idiom itself.^[6][7] The sense of a barbarous condition, the opposite of civilization, is recorded from 1584, and a trait of such a condition from 1647.^[6][4] From 1603, in Florio's Montaigne, it was also used for cruelty, a sense the OED records only until 1665 and gives to barbarity instead.^[6] Johnson (1755) still listed four senses: a faulty form of speech, ignorance of the arts, savage manners, and cruelty.^[11] Modern dictionaries add any act or object that offends against good taste.^[10][12]

Timeline

• before 1447 – rudeness of nature or speech, in Bokenham.^[2]
• 1578 – the use of words not in keeping with the classical standard, especially foreign words.^[6][7]
• 1584 – a barbarous, uncivilized condition.^[6]
• 1589 – a foreign or non-classical word or idiom.^[6][7]
• 1603 – barbarous cruelty (obsolete by 1665).^[6]
• 1647 – a trait of an uncivilized condition.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A word or expression that offends against accepted usage in a language, especially a badly formed or foreign one; a solecism.^[10][12][6]
2. The use of such words or expressions.^[6][4]
3. An uncivilized, crude or ignorant condition; the absence of culture or civilization.^[12][6][4]
4. A brutal, coarse or ignorant act, or a trait of an uncivilized state.^[12][6]
5. Any act, idea or object that offends against accepted taste or standards.^[10][12]
6. (obsolete, 1603–1665) Cruelty; barbarity.^[6][11]

Related words

• barbarian
• barbarous
• barbaric
• barbarity
• barbarize

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary distinguishes barbarism from barbarity: both mean a lack of civilization, but barbarism is opposed to civilization as cultural attainment, and now refers to ignorance or crudity of taste, including in language, while barbarity is opposed to civilization as peaceful social order, and means savage cruelty.^[13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin