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I've heard this oft repeated over the decades. I wonder if there is a legitimate historical source for it.
by gnicholasgreen 10y ago
I've heard this oft repeated over the decades. I wonder if there is a legitimate historical source for it.
- gmarx 10y agoPretty sure this explanation is just really old speculation. Even if the ancient greeks kept records of word origins, those documents would likely be lost by now
- astine 10y agoJudging by this link: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=barbarian http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=barbarian, the reasoning is based on words in other indoeuropean languages having a similar root to 'barbarian' being used to refer to stammering or incoherent speech.
- jumasheff 10y agoThe most interesting part is this: `...meaning "rude, wild person" is from 1610s.`
- gglitch 10y ago"from Greek barbaros 'foreign, strange, ignorant,' from PIE root *barbar- echoic of unintelligible speech of foreigners (compare Sanskrit barbara- 'stammering,' also 'non-Aryan,' Latin balbus 'stammering,' Czech blblati 'to stammer')." I don't know if the source I'm quoting is reliable, but I find the same reference to Sanskrit in a variety of sources.
- vram22 10y ago>compare Sanskrit barbara- "stammering," Interesting. Though I knew Sanskrit (well in school), didn't know or remember that word - but still know Hindi well, and in Hindi, bad-bad (pronounced like bud-bud) means blabbing, as in: Kya bad-bad kar rahe ho - What are you blabbing. And to close the loop, in Hindi, the sounds r and d are closely related and sometimes substituted for one another - at least while talking.