Etymologically
Log in

barbaricus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 05:28. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [barˈba.rɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [barˈbaː.ri.kus][1]

Forms

barbaricus (feminine barbarica, neuter barbaricum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βαρβαρικός (barbarikós),[2][1][3] from βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign”).[4] Köbler refers it to barbarus.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[5] who uses it jokingly of Roman things as a Greek would see them, as barbaricā lēge, "by barbarian law".[2] The OLD's first citation is Ennius' ope barbaricā.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means belonging to the world outside Greece and Rome, barbarian, foreign:[2][6] Ennius has barbarian wealth, a poem of the Catalepton ascribed to Virgil the trophies of a barbarian battle, and Lucan barbarian cavalry wings.[2][6] Plautus also uses it of Rome or Italy as a Greek would speak of them.[2] It also means rude, savage or outlandish: in Plautus' Casina a speaker wants things done elegantly and will have none of barbarian blite.[2] Columella calls a plantation of mixed trees silva barbarica.[2] As a noun, in post-classical Latin, barbaricum is a foreign land, and Festus says the war cry of an army was called so because barbarians used it.[6] Stelten gives "foreign, barbarian".[7] English barbaric came from it through French in the late 15th century.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus jokingly of Roman law.[2][5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of barbarian wealth.[2]
  • 39–65 AD – Lucan of barbarian cavalry.[6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of a mixed plantation.[2]
  • late 15th century – English barbaric, from Latin, partly through French.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Barbarian, foreign (not Greek or Roman); (jocular) Roman or Italian, as a Greek would say.[2][6][1][7]
  2. Rude, savage, outlandish, barbaric.[2][6][1]
  3. (of a plantation) Mixed.[2]

Word family

  • barbaricarius
  • barbaricum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson