Derivation of BARBAROS
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Sep 12 07:38:15 EDT 2002
At 6:34 PM -0400 9/11/02, Theodore H. Mann wrote:
>BlankGreetings:
>
>In connection with Acts 28:2, I recently read the following statement in The
>Expositor's Bible Commentary (Zondervan: Vol. 9, p. 564): "Luke calls the
>natives who welcomed them HOI BARBAROI, which NIV well translates
>unperjoratively as 'islanders.' BARBAROI is an onomatopoetic word: to the
>Greeks and Romans strange languages sounded like 'bar-bar-bar,' hence the
>word 'barbarian.' " This struck me as rather curious, so I thought I'd
>check to see if it's true. Does anyone know?
I first heard that explanation of the origin of BARBAROS long ago, but I
don't know of any clear evidence for it. According to LSJ the primary sense
of the adjective is ethnic, only secondarily of language.
barba^ros , on, barbarous, i.e. non-Greek, foreign, not in Hom. (but cf.
barbarophônos); b. psuchai Heraclit.107 ; esp. as Subst. barbaroi, hoi,
originally all non-Greek-speaking peoples, then specially of the Medes and
Persians, A.Pers.255, Hdt.1.58, etc.: generally, opp. Hellênes
Curious (and amusing?) is
III. used by Jews of Greeks, LXX2 Ma.2.21.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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