Barbarian
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Barbarian" is a pejorative term for an uncivilized, uncultured person, either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnicity perceived as having an inferior level of civilization, or in an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, insensitive person whose behaviour is unacceptable in the society of the speaker. While the latter sense is always pejorative, the former one has not invariably been so.
Overview
The term "barbarian" refers to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person.
The term originates from the ancient Greek word βάρβαρος (barbaros). Hence the Greek idiom "πᾶς μὴ Ἕλλην βάρβαρος" (pas mē Hellēn barbaros) which literally means "whoever is not Greek is a barbarian". In ancient times, Greeks used it for the people of different cultures but also to deride other Greek tribes and states; in the early modern period and sometimes later, they used it for the Turks, in a clearly pejorative way. Comparable notions are found in non-European civilizations. In the Roman Empire, Romans used the word barbarian for the Germanics, Celts, Carthaginians, Iberians, Thracians, Persians and in some respects the Greeks themselves.
See also
- Barbarian invasions
- Barbarism
- Barbarism (linguistics)
- Berber (name)
- Civilization
- Ethnic groups in Chinese history
- Ethnocentrism
- Ethnography
- Ethnology
- Mleccha
- Noble savage
- Philistine
- Sack of Rome
- Skræling
- Socialisme ou Barbarie
- Stateless societies
- Vandals
- Future Shock
