barbarous

barbarous
\ \ [15] Originally, a barbarous person was a ‘foreigner’, anyone who did not speak your own language. Greek bárbaros meant ‘foreign, ignorant’, and it has been speculated that its ultimate signification was ‘unable to speak intelligibly’ (the related Sanskrit barbaras meant ‘stammering’). English acquired the word from Latin barbarus, a modified Vulgar Latin version of which, *brabus, produced Italian bravo and hence, via French, English brave.
\ \ Cf.BRAVE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Barbarous — Bar ba*rous, a. [L. barbarus, Gr. ba rbaros, strange, foreign; later, slavish, rude, ignorant; akin to L. balbus stammering, Skr. barbara stammering, outlandish. Cf. {Brave}, a.] 1. Being in the state of a barbarian; uncivilized; rude; peopled… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • barbarous — index brutal, cold blooded, cruel, disorderly, hot blooded, malevolent, malignant, ruthless, uncouth …   Law dictionary

  • barbarous — c.1400, uncivilized, uncultured, ignorant, from L. barbarus, from Gk. barbaros (see BARBARIAN (Cf. barbarian)). Meaning not Greek or Latin (of words or language) is from c.1500; that of savagely cruel is from 1580s …   Etymology dictionary

  • barbarous — 1 savage, barbaric, *barbarian Analogous words: *rough, harsh: untutored, untaught, uneducated, illiterate, *ignorant: *rude, rough, crude Antonyms: civilized: humane 2 savage, inhuman, ferocious, * …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • barbarous — [adj] crude, savage atrocious, barbarian, barbaric, brutal, brutish, coarse, cruel, ferocious, heartless, ignorant, inhuman, inhumane, monstrous, primitive, rough, rude, ruthless, sadistic, truculent, uncivil, uncivilized, uncouth, uncultured,… …   New thesaurus

  • barbarous — ► ADJECTIVE 1) exceedingly cruel. 2) primitive; uncivilized. DERIVATIVES barbarously adverb …   English terms dictionary

  • barbarous — [bär′bə rəs] adj. [L barbarus < Gr barbaros, foreign, strange, ignorant < IE echoic base * barbar , used for unintelligible speech of foreigners > Sans barbara , stammering, non Aryan] 1. Obs. foreign or alien; in the ancient world, non… …   English World dictionary

  • barbarous — adj. barbarous to + inf. (it was barbarous to treat prisoners in that manner) * * * [ bɑːb(ə)rəs] barbarous to + int. (it was barbarous to treat prisoners in that manner) …   Combinatory dictionary

  • barbarous — [[t]bɑ͟ː(r)bərəs[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe something as barbarous, you strongly disapprove of it because you think that it is rough and uncivilized. He thought the poetry of Whitman barbarous. 2) ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If …   English dictionary

  • barbarous — barbarian, barbaric, barbarous 1. These words had their origins in people s ideas about foreign languages. The Greek word barbaros, ‘barbarian’, which is the ultimate source of all these words, meant someone who spoke words sounding like ba ba.… …   Modern English usage

  • barbarous — adjective Etymology: Latin barbarus, from Greek barbaros foreign, ignorant Date: 15th century 1. a. uncivilized b. lacking culture or refinement ; Philistine 2. characterized by the occurrence of barbarisms …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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