(May 2, 2009 at 5:29 am)leo-rcc Wrote: Well yes and no. Barbarian actually comes from the Greeks, not the Romans. The Greeks used to call everyone not speaking Greek bárbaros (which is a descriptive word, sounding like a gibberish language). For the Greek it became the common term to describe foreigners, and no value of superiority was given to it. Later after the Persian war, the term changed meaning, usually describing Bárbaros as Persian. After the Greco-Persian war and Greece's victory, the stereotype of superiority towards barbarians started to emerge. When the Roman Empire started to expand, the term was assimilated in to the Latin word "barbaria".
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pte...3D%2319347
Fun fact, the Arabic nomadic tribe of "Berbers" derive their name from Barbaros as well.
Thank you that was intresting inforamtion
But accutally it was not about the word it was more about that the roman saw other that wasn't roman as primitve. Like celts which they where very carefully wanted others in the future to remember as just a primitive barbarian people. Which were all they wrote about them. They wanted their view of hisotory to be the one that was the only one that survived.
But ok we could say that the non-roman people were smarter then the Romans. Something that we have learned was the other way around in school and such. But in recsent years have discovered that other then romans at that time where far ahead of them in some areas.
