Etymologically
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barbaria

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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

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