
Beards of Belonging - benbreen
http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2015/11/beards-of-belonging/
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mbrock
> The Latin word for beard, barba, -ae, provides the root for the Latin and
> English equivalent of ‘barbarian’.

From what I can tell, that's not the generally accepted etymology. Wikipedia's
"Barbarian" page says:

> Eventually the term found a hidden meaning by Christian Romans through the
> folk etymology of Cassiodorus. He stated the word barbarian was "made up of
> barba (beard) and rus (flat land); for barbarians did not live in cities,
> making their abodes in the fields like wild animals".

Wikipedia gives this as the primary etymology and it's the one I've heard most
often:

> 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).

