barbaria

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [barˈba.ri.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [barˈbaː.ri.a]^[1]

Forms

barbaria f (genitive barbariae); first declension^[1] The form barbariēs is poetic and post-Augustan, found once in Cicero.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from barbarus “foreign, barbarian” with the suffix -ia.^[3][1] ⟨Barbarus⟩ is borrowed from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “non-Greek”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites Plautus, who uses it from the Greek point of view for Italy.^[5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a foreign country, and in Cicero the foreign world, the uncivilized peoples outside Greece and Italy.^[3][5] Cicero also used it for barbarousness, brutality, lack of culture.^[3][5]

Its adjective barbarus lies behind Medieval Latin barbarīnus and English barbarian in the mid-14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of Italy.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the foreign world and of barbarism.^[3][6]
• mid-14th century – English barbarian is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A foreign land; the barbarian world.^[3]
2. Barbarousness, barbarism.^[3]

Word family

• barbariēs

Related words

• barbarus
• English barbarian

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de