The word "barbarian" has been around for a long time.It can be found in the Old Slavonic language, Old Russian and modern. The history of the origin of this term is extraordinarily interesting. The article will consider the meaning of the word "barbarian" and how it has changed over time. Each epoch made its own changes to this concept and interpreted it to its own pleasure.
It is widespread and used.many nations. It is caused by the fact that the word has an ancient origin and with time began to be used not only in the area of its appearance, but also throughout the world.
It is this great country, the cradle of moderncivilization, gave the world a new word. Thousands of years ago the Greeks called so all strangers. For them, a barbarian is any foreigner who lived outside the Greek, and then the Roman state. The etymology of the word is still controversial. It is believed that this ecstasy of incomprehensible and alien to the Greeks languages - var-var. The word had a contemptuous connotation, as other tribes Greeks considered less educated and cultural. However, many scholars do not agree with this version and believe that this term had a neutral meaning.
Moreover, the ancient Greeks called this concept all those who speak a different language, and only then began to apply it to designate other peoples.
Позднее слово перешло к римлянам, но получило other meaning. For the inhabitants of the Roman state, a barbarian is a rude, uneducated person. So began to call the northern peoples, which for the development of culture far behind the population of the Balkan Peninsula and Italy.
In Greek, the barbarian sounded like barbaros.The Latin name is barbarus in the same sense (foreigner, alien). Interestingly, in modern French there is the word barbare. It means "cruel, barbarous" and is very similar to another word - barbe (beard). According to linguists, the similarity is not at all accidental. The ancient Greeks preferred to wear neat little beards, which curled and anointed with fragrant oils. The northern tribes who lived in the neighborhood did not care about the beauty of their hair and beards, so they looked untidy.
Если верить письменным источникам тех лет, first applied this concept at the end of VI. BC e. the Greek historian Hecateus of Miletus. The Greeks did not accept the many habits and customs of their neighbors, for example, the noisy feasts of the Scythians and the Thracians. The poet Anacreon wrote about this. The philosopher Heraclitus in his writings used such a metaphysical concept as “barbarous soul”. Thus, over time, the word began to take on an increasingly negative tone. A barbarian is a foreigner who is characterized by a general low level of cultural development and lacks moral norms and rules of conduct acceptable to the Greeks.
The turning point was the Greek-Persian Wars,hard for the Hellenes. A negative image of a person of non-Greek origin began to form and the barbarian stereotype was created - cowardly, cunning, cruel and hating Greece.
Then there was a period when there was an interest in foreign culture and even admiration for it.
In the IV — V centuries. n e., in the era of the Great Migration, the word again gained a negative assessment and was associated with the cruel tribes of invaders-savages who destroyed Roman civilization.
What nations were called so by the ancient Greeks? As mentioned above, these were the northern tribes: Germanic, Slavic, Scythian, as well as the Celts and Thracians.
In the 1st c. BC e.Germanic tribes tried to occupy the Roman province of Gaul. Julius Caesar repulsed them then. The invaders were driven back over the Rhine, along which the frontier of the Roman and barbaric world lay.
All of the above tribes had a similar way of life. They were engaged in cattle breeding, farming and hunting. Knew weaving and pottery, were able to process metal.
Answering the question who are the barbarians, you needtouch and their cultural level. He did not reach such heights as the Greek civilization achieved, but these tribes were not ignorant and wild. For example, products of Scythian and Celtic masters are considered valuable works of art.
The ancient concept was borrowed from the Greeks and Romans by Western Europe and Byzantium. It has changed the meaning. The barbarian is an atheist, as then the Christian and Catholic clergy believed.
Слово «варвар» может похвастаться тем, что на over the centuries, its value has changed. For the ancient Greeks, it meant a foreigner who lived outside the country, the Romans so called those tribes and peoples who invaded the territory of the empire and destroyed it. For Byzantium and Western Europe, this word has become synonymous with pagan.
Nowadays, this concept is used in a figurative sense. In the ordinary sense, a barbarian is a cruel, ignorant person who destroys cultural monuments and values.
Interestingly, the word has not lost its relevance and, despite the prescription of origin, is still used today.
