barbarian

The story

1. Ancient Greekβάρβαρος (bárbaros)
2. Latinbarbarus
3. Medieval Latinbarbaria
4. Medieval Latinbarbarinus
5. Middle Englishbarbarian
6. English todaybarbarian

From Middle English barbarian, borrowed from Medieval Latin barbarinus (“Berber, pagan, foreigner”), from Latin barbaria (“foreign country”), from barbarus (“foreigner, savage”), from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign, non-Greek, strange”), possibly onomatopoeic (mimicking foreign languages, akin to English blah blah). Cognate to Sanskrit बर्बर (barbara, “barbarian, non-Aryan, stammering, blockhead”).

Words from the same roots