4 ms·
I mostly hear this word in the context of the Romans, but I thought that it was a term for facial hair- implying those external to the "civilized" empire had a
by CactusOnFire 4y ago
I mostly hear this word in the context of the Romans, but I thought that it was a term for facial hair- implying those external to the "civilized" empire had a tendency for ragged and long facial hair.
Hence the term 'barber' for a person that cuts said facial hair.
- hprotagonist 4y agono, that’s a false friend etymology. https://www.etymonline.com/word/barber https://www.etymonline.com/word/barber “barbarian” is onomatopoeic for “people who talk like bar bar bar bar and aren’t greek”. the (themselves barbarian) romans adopted the term.
- bashmelek 4y agoOne notable “barbarian” group would be the Berbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers whose name might actually be derived from the Greek word for barbarian.