3 ms·

"barbarian" == "people who say bar bar bar bar bar" == "people who speak gibberish" "barbarbar" ~ "blahblahblah"

• YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago
  >> "barbarbar" ~ "blahblahblah" I don't think this is right. "Blah blah" implies someone who is overly talkative. "bar bar" [1] is an onomatopoieia of someone speaking a non-Greek language, like "arf arf" is for a dog. I'm not even sure it has the meaning of "speaking gibberish" that you give it. I think it was literally just the way that some ancient language that was not Greek sounded to Greek ears. A bit like with the Swedish chef in Muppet show. _________ [1] Actually, "var var". In Greek it's "βάρβαρος", pronounced "varvaros".
  • mrslave 5y ago
    I thought this originated with the Romans because of the high frequency use of barbarians to refer to Germans to the north that couldn't be conquered and were often a thorn in the side of Rome. But this could be a borrowed word, and my perceived definition to describe the Germans is just the long-lasting influence of the Roman empire. Did the Greeks use it frequently to describe any one people in particular?
    • zvr 5y ago
      No, it was used for everyone speaking a non-Greek language. In Homer there is no "barbarian"; only "barbar-speaking". But by the time of Aeschylus, it was a noun denoting people speaking non-Greek. There was also the corresponding verb that meant "speak a foreign language" but also "speak broken Greek / make lots of errors speaking (Greek)". In Roman times, "barbarian" meant anyone who was not Roman or Greek.