|
A barbarian is a human who is perceived to be uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be any member of a nation judged by some to be less civilized or orderly (such as a tribal society), but may also be part of a certain "primitive" cultural group (such as nomads) or social class (such as bandits) both within and outside one's own nation. Alternatively, they may instead be admired and romanticized as noble savages. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person.〔''Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary'', 1972, pg. 149, Simon & Schuster Publishing〕 The term originates from the (ギリシア語:βάρβαρος) (''barbaros''). In ancient times, Greeks used it mostly for people of different cultures, but there are examples where one Greek city or state would use the word to attack another (e.g. haughty Athenians calling the Boeotians barbarian);〔Siculus Diodorus, Ludwig August Dindorf, Diodori Bibliotheca historica - Volume 1 - Page 671〕 in the early modern period and sometimes later, Greeks used it for the Turks, in a clearly pejorative way.〔Εκδοτική Αθηνών, ο Ελληνισμός υπό ξένη κυριαρχία: Τουρκοκρατία, Λατινοκρατία, 1980, page 34 (in Greek)〕〔Justin Marozzi, The Way of Herodotus: Travels with the Man who Invented History, 2010, pages 311–315〕 Comparable notions are found in non-European civilizations, notably China and Japan. In the Roman Empire, Romans used the word "barbarian" for many people, such as the Germanics, Celts, Iberians, Thracians and Parthians. ==Etymology== The Ancient Greek word βάρβαρος (''barbaros''), "barbarian", was an antonym for πολίτης (''politēs''), "citizen" (from πόλις - ''polis'', "city-state"). The sound of ''barbaros'' onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language). The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek , ''pa-pa-ro'', written in Linear B syllabic script.〔(Palaeolexicon ), Word study tool of ancient languages〕〔Johannes Kramer, (''Die Sprachbezeichnungen 'Latinus' und 'Romanus' im Lateinischen und Romanischen'' ), Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1998, p.86〕 The Greeks and Romans used the term as they encountered scores of different foreign cultures, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes, Celts, Germanic peoples, Phoenicians and Carthaginians. In fact, it became a common term to refer to all foreigners. However, in various occasions, the term was also used by Greeks, especially the Athenians, to deride other Greek tribes and states (such as Epirotes, Eleans, Macedonians and Aeolic-speakers) but also fellow Athenians, in a pejorative and politically motivated manner.〔(The term barbaros, ''"A Greek-English Lexicon"'' (Liddell & Scott), at Perseus )〕 Of course, the term also carried a cultural dimension to its dual meaning.〔Plutarch's "Life of Pyrrhos" records his apprehensive remark on seeing a Roman army taking the field against him in disciplined order: "These are not barbarians."(Foreigners and Barbarians (adapted from ''Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks'') ), The American Forum for Global Education, 2000. "The status of being a foreigner, as the Greeks understood the term does not permit any easy definition. Primarily it signified such peoples as the Persians and Egyptians, whose languages were unintelligible to the Greeks, but it could also be used of Greeks who spoke in a different dialect and with a different accent ... Prejudice toward Greeks on the part of Greeks was not limited to those who lived on the fringes of the Greek world. The Boeotians, inhabitants of central Greece, whose credentials were impeccable, were routinely mocked for their stupidity and gluttony. Ethnicity is a fluid concept even at the best of times. When it suited their purposes, the Greeks also divided themselves into Ionians and Dorians. The distinction was emphasized at the time of the Peloponnesian War, when the Ionian Athenians fought against the Dorian Spartans. The Spartan general Brasidas even taxed the Athenians with cowardice on account of their Ionian lineage. In other periods of history the Ionian-Dorian divide carried much less weight."〕〔Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. ''Athens: Its Rise and Fall''. Kessinger Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-4191-0808-5, pp. 9–10. "Whether the Pelasgi were anciently a foreign or Grecian tribe, has been a subject of constant and celebrated discussion. Herodotus, speaking of some settlements held to be Pelaigic, and existing in his time, terms their language 'barbarous;' but Mueller, nor with argument insufficient, considers that the expression of the historian would apply only to a peculiar dialect; and the hypothesis is sustained by another passage in Herodotus, in which he applies to certain Ionian dialects the same term as that with which he stigmatizes the language of the Pelasgic settlements. In corroboration of Mueller's opinion, we may also observe, that the 'barbarous-tongued' is an epithet applied by Homer to the Carians, and is rightly construed by the ancient critics as denoting a dialect mingled and unpolished, certainly not foreign. Nor when the Agamemnon of Sophocles upbraids Teucer with 'his barbarous tongue,' would any scholar suppose that Teucer is upbraided with not speaking Greek; he is upbraided with speaking Greek inelegantly and rudely. It is clear that they who continued with the least adulteration a language in its earliest form, would seem to utter a strange and unfamiliar jargon to ears accustomed to its more modern construction."〕 The verb (''barbarízein'') in ancient Greek meant imitating the linguistic sounds non-Greeks made or making grammatical errors in Greek. Plato (''Statesman'' 262de) rejected the Greek–barbarian dichotomy as a logical absurdity on just such grounds: dividing the world into Greeks and non-Greeks told one nothing about the second group, yet Plato used the term barbarian frequently in his seventh letter.〔http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/seventh_letter.html〕 In Homer's works, the term appeared only once (''Iliad'' 2.867), in the form ("of incomprehensible speech"), used of the Carians fighting for Troy during the Trojan War. In general, the concept of ''barbaros'' did not figure largely in archaic literature before the 5th century BC.〔Hall, Jonathan. ''Hellenicity'', p. 111, ISBN 0-226-31329-8. "There is at the elite level at least no hint during the archaic period of this sharp dichotomy between Greek and Barbarian or the derogatory and the stereotypical representation of the latter that emerged so clearly from the fifth century."〕 Still it has been suggested that "barbarophonoi" in the ''Iliad'' signifies not those who spoke a non-Greek language but simply those who spoke Greek badly.〔Hall, Jonathan. ''Hellenicity'', p. 111, ISBN 0-226-31329-8. "Given the relative familiarity of the Karians to the Greeks, it has been suggested that barbarophonoi in the Iliad signifies not those who spoke a non-Greek language but simply those who spoke Greek badly."〕 A change occurred in the connotations of the word after the Greco-Persian Wars in the first half of the 5th century BC. Here a hasty coalition of Greeks defeated the vast Persian Empire. Indeed, in the Greek of this period 'barbarian' is often used expressly to refer to Persians, who were enemies of the Greeks in this war.〔Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. ''Ancient Greeks West and East'', 1999, p. 60, ISBN 90-04-10230-2. "a barbarian from a distinguished nation which given the political circumstances of the time might well mean a Persian."〕 Greek ''barbaros'' was the etymological source for many words meaning "barbarian", including English ''barbarian'', which was first recorded in 16th-century Middle English. A word ''barbara-'' is also found in the Sanskrit of ancient India.〔(BARBARIAN ), Questions and Answers, worldwidewords.org, Michael Quinion〕〔(Barbara (entry) ) SpokenSanskrit.de〕〔(Apte English–Sanskrit Dictionary ), "Fool" entry, 3rd ed., Pune, 1920〕〔(A Sanskrit–English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages ), Monier Monier-Williams, Ernst Leumann, Carl Cappeller, pub. Asian Educational Services, November 30, 1999 (Google Books)〕 The Greek word ''barbaros'' is related to Sanskrit ''barbaras'' (stammering).〔Onions, C.T. (1966), edited by, The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, page 74, The Clarendon Press, Oxford.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Barbarian」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|
