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'''"Barbarian"''' was originally a term applied to a foreigner, one not sharing a recognized culture or degree of polish with the speaker or writer employing the term. The word derives from the
Greek, and expresses with mocking duplication ("bar-bar") alleged attempts by outsiders to speak a "real" language. A "barbarism" in language, especially Greek or Latin, is a term for a misformed word, such as a solecism or a
malapropism. Related terms are '''barbaric''' and '''barbarous'''.
''Barbarian'' is used in its Hellenic sense by Paul in the
New Testament (''Romans 1:14
KJV'') to describe non-Greeks, and to describe one who merely speaks a different language (''1 Corinthians 14:11 KJV''). The word is not used in these scriptures in the modern sense of "
savage".
Historically, the term has seen widespread use. Many peoples have dismissed alien cultures and even rival civilizations as "barbarians" because they were unrecognizably strange. The Greeks admired
Scythian and
Eastern Gauls as heroic individuals, but considered their culture to be barbaric. The
Romans indiscriminately regarded the nomadic
Germanic peoples, the settled
Gauls, and the raiding
Huns as barbarians all, while the
Han Chinese of the
Chinese Empire have regarded the
Xiongnu,
Tatars,
Turks,
Mongols,
Jurchen,
Manchu, and
Europeans as barbaric. Japanese people called the Europeans ''
nanban'', literally ''Barbarians from the South'', because the Portuguese ships appeared to sail from the South.
Converted barbarians have historically proved sometimes the staunchest supporters of the more developed culture they have recently subverted. Historic examples are the
Lombards and the
Manchu. "The best Romans", wrote
Henry James, "are often northern barbarians."
Often today, ''barbarian'' is used to mean someone violent, primitive, uncouth or uncivilized in general. See also ''
Philistine''.
A non-pejorative, simply functional concept of '''"barbarian,"''' as sociologists have redefined the term, depends upon a carefully-defined use of "
civilization," denoting a settled,
urban way of life that is organized on principles broader than the
extended family or tribe, in which surpluses of necessities can be stored and redistributed and division of labor produces some
luxury goods (even if only for gods and kings). The barbarian is technically a social
parasite on civilization, who depends on settlements as a source of
slaves, surpluses and portable luxuries: booty, loot and plunder.
Rich, deep authentic human
culture exists even without civilization, as the German writers of the early Romantic generation first defined the opposing terms, though they used them as polarities in a way that a modern writer might not. "Culture" should not simply connote "civilization."
The culture of the
nomad is not to be confused with the barbarian, either. The nomad subsists on the products of his flocks, and follows their needs. The nomad may barter for necessities, like metalwork, but does not depend on civilization for plunder, as the barbarian does.
In
fantasy novels and
role-playing games, barbarians (or
berserkers) are depicted as brave uncivilized warriors, often able to attack with a crazed fury.
Conan the Barbarian is best known among these.
==See also==
*
Barbarian kings of Italy: in fact merely a list of the highly civilized Ostrogothic rulers, who avoided the term "king."
*
Barbarians F.C.: international invitational
rugby union team
*
Michael Wall's
1989 play ''
Amongst Barbarians''
*
Conan the Barbarian
==Compare==
*
Oriental, another word for an alien outsider, now also with pejorative connotations.
nl:barbaar
