The history of the word Barbar may be classed
under four periods.
In the time of Homer, when the Greeks and Asiatics might probably use a common idiom, the imitative sound of Barbar was applied to the ruder tribes, whose pronunciation was most harsh, whose grammar was most
defective. (Iliad ii. 867. with the Oxford Scholiast Clarke's Annotation, and Henry Stephens's Greek Thesaurus, tom. i. p.720.).
From the time, at least, of Herodotus, it
was extended to all the nations who were strangers to the
language and manners of the Greeks.
In the age of
Plautus, the Romans submitted to the insult (Pompeius
Festus, l. ii. p. 48, edit. Dacier), and freely gave
themselves the name of barbarians. They insensibly claimed
an exemption for Italy and her subject provinces — and at
length removed the disgraceful appellation to the savage or
hostile nations beyond the pale of the empire.
In every
sense it was due to the Moors: the familiar word was
borrowed from the Latin provincials by the Arabian
conquerors, and has justly settled as a local denomination
(Barbary) along the northern coast of Africa.
(Iliad ii. 867. with the Oxford Scholiast Clarke's Annotation, and Henry Stephens's Greek Thesaurus, tom. i. p.720.).