The word "barbarian" has existed for a very long time. It can be found in the Old Slavonic language, Old Russian and modern. The history of the origin of this term is extremely interesting. The article will examine the meaning of the word “barbarian” and how it has changed over time. Each era made its changes to this concept and interpreted in its own favor.
Where does the word barbarian occur?
It is ubiquitous and used by many peoples. This is caused by the fact that the word has an ancient origin and eventually began to be used not only in the field of its appearance, but also throughout the world.
Homeland - Ancient Greece
It was this great country, the cradle of modern civilization, that gave the world a new word. The Greeks called all strangers millennia ago. For them, a barbarian is any stranger who lived outside the Greek and then Roman state. The etymology of the word is still controversial. It is believed that this onomatopoeia of languages incomprehensible and alien to the Greeks is war-var. The word had a contemptuous connotation, as the other tribes of the Greeks considered less educated and cultural. However, many scientists do not agree with this version and believe that this term had a neutral meaning.
And initially, the ancient Greeks called this term all who speak a different language, and only then they began to use it to designate other peoples.
Later the word passed to the Romans, but received a different meaning. For the inhabitants of the Roman state, a barbarian is a rude, uneducated person. So they began to call the northern peoples, who, by the development of culture, lagged far behind the population of the Balkan Peninsula and Italy.
In Greek, the barbarian sounded like barbaros. The Latin name is barbarus in the same meaning (alien, alien). Interestingly, in modern French, there is the word barbare. It means "cruel, barbaric" and is very similar to another word - barbe (beard). According to linguists, the similarity is not accidental. The ancient Greeks preferred to wear neat little beards that curled and oiled with aromatic oils. The northern tribes living in the neighborhood did not care about the beauty of their hair and beards, so they looked untidy.
First mention of the word and change of attitude towards barbarians
If you believe the written sources of those years, the first time this concept was applied at the end of the VI century. BC e. Greek historian Hecateus of Miletus. The Greeks did not accept many of the habits and customs of their neighbors, for example, the noisy feasts of the Scythians and Thracians. The poet Anacreont wrote about this. The philosopher Heraclitus in his writings applied such a metaphysical concept as "barbaric soul." Thus, over time, the word began to take on an increasingly negative connotation. A barbarian is a foreigner who is characterized by a general low level of cultural development and who does not have moral standards and rules of behavior acceptable to the Greeks.
The turning point was the Greek-Persian wars, hard given to the Hellenes. A negative image of a person of non-Greek origin began to take shape and a stereotype of a barbarian — cowardly, treacherous, cruel and hating Greece — was created.
Then there was a period when interest in foreign culture and even admiration for it appeared.
In the 4th – 5th centuries n e., in the era of the Great Migration of Nations, the word again acquired a negative assessment and was associated with the brutal tribes of the savage invaders who destroyed Roman civilization.
Who are the barbarians: tribes and occupations
What peoples were so called by the ancient Greeks? As mentioned above, these were northern tribes: Germanic, Slavic, Scythian, as well as Celts and Thracians.
In the 1st century BC e. Germanic tribes tried to occupy the Roman province of Gaul. The rebuff to them then gave Julius Caesar. The invaders were thrown back over the Rhine, along which lay the border of the Roman world and the barbarian.
All of the above tribes had a similar lifestyle. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture and hunting. They knew weaving and pottery, knew how to process metal.
Answering the question of who the barbarians are, you need to touch on their cultural level. He did not reach the heights that Greek civilization achieved, but these tribes were not ignorant and wild. For example, the products of Scythian and Celtic masters are considered valuable works of art.
The history of the word in the Middle Ages
The ancient concept was borrowed from the Greeks and Romans by Western Europe and Byzantium. It has changed meaning. A barbarian is an atheist, as the Christian and Catholic clergy believed then.
Many meanings
The word "barbarian" boasts that over the centuries its meaning has changed. For the ancient Greeks, it denoted a stranger who lived outside the country, the Romans called those tribes and peoples that invaded the territory of the empire and destroyed it. For Byzantium and Western Europe, this word has become synonymous with a pagan.
Today, this concept is used in a figurative sense. In a common sense, a barbarian is a cruel, ignorant person who destroys cultural monuments and values.
It is interesting that the word has not lost its relevance and, despite the remoteness of origin, is used to this day.