The word לעו (rendered _barbarian_; LXX, βάρβαρος,) in the
Hebrew sense of it, signifies _a stranger_; one who knows neither the
holy language nor the law. According to the notions of the Greeks, all
nations who were not Greeks, or not governed by laws like the Greeks,
were barbarians. The Persians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Arabians, Gauls,
Germans, and even the Romans, were, in their phraseology, barbarians,
however learned or polite they might be in themselves. St. Paul
comprehends all mankind under the names of Greeks and barbarians: “I am
a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; to the wise and to
the unwise,” Rom. i, 14. St. Luke calls the inhabitants of the island of
Malta barbarians, Acts xxviii, 2, 4. St. Paul, writing to the
Colossians, uses the terms _barbarian_ and _Scythian_ almost in the same
signification. In 1 Cor. xiv, 11, he says, that if he who speaks a
foreign language in an assembly be not understood by those to whom he
discourses, with respect to them he is a barbarian; and, reciprocally,
if he understand not those who speak to him, they are to him barbarians.
Barbarian, therefore, is used for every stranger or foreigner who does
not speak our native language, and includes no implication whatever of
savage nature or manners in those respecting whom it is used. It is most
probably derived from _berbir_, “a shepherd;” whence _Barbary_, the
country of wandering shepherds; _Bedouins_, _Sceni_, _Scythei_, as if,
wanderers in tents; therefore barbarians.
Hebrew sense of it, signifies _a stranger_; one who knows neither the
holy language nor the law. According to the notions of the Greeks, all
nations who were not Greeks, or not governed by laws like the Greeks,
were barbarians. The Persians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Arabians, Gauls,
Germans, and even the Romans, were, in their phraseology, barbarians,
however learned or polite they might be in themselves. St. Paul
comprehends all mankind under the names of Greeks and barbarians: “I am
a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; to the wise and to
the unwise,” Rom. i, 14. St. Luke calls the inhabitants of the island of
Malta barbarians, Acts xxviii, 2, 4. St. Paul, writing to the
Colossians, uses the terms _barbarian_ and _Scythian_ almost in the same
signification. In 1 Cor. xiv, 11, he says, that if he who speaks a
foreign language in an assembly be not understood by those to whom he
discourses, with respect to them he is a barbarian; and, reciprocally,
if he understand not those who speak to him, they are to him barbarians.
Barbarian, therefore, is used for every stranger or foreigner who does
not speak our native language, and includes no implication whatever of
savage nature or manners in those respecting whom it is used. It is most
probably derived from _berbir_, “a shepherd;” whence _Barbary_, the
country of wandering shepherds; _Bedouins_, _Sceni_, _Scythei_, as if,
wanderers in tents; therefore barbarians.