Can we make a link between the use of the word terror and the use of the word barbarian in roman times?

Question

The word barbarian was used to instill a sense of fear in the people of roman times. Can we not make a comparison to the modern day use of the word terror in order to justify otherwise unexplainable actions?

Answer 1

Well - lets look at the etymology of each word first.

BARBARIAN
1338, from M.L. barbarinus, from L. barbaria "foreign country," from Gk. barbaros "foreign, strange, ignorant," from PIE base *barbar- echoic of unintelligible speech of foreigners (cf. Skt. barbara- "stammering," also "non-Aryan"). Barbaric is first recorded 1490, from O.Fr. barbarique, from L. barbaricus "foreign, strange, outlandish." Barbarous is first attested 1526.

TERROR
c.1375 "great fear," from O.Fr. terreur (14c.), from L. terrorem (nom. terror) "great fear, dread," from terrere "fill with fear, frighten," from PIE base *tre- "shake" (see terrible). Meaning "quality of causing dread" is attested from 1528; terror bombing first recorded 1941, with ref. to German air attack on Rotterdam. Sense of "a person fancied as a source of terror" (often with deliberate exaggeration, as of a naughty child) is recorded from 1883. The Reign of Terror in Fr. history (March 1793-July 1794) so called in Eng. from 1801.

The origins of the word "barbarian" are supposedly from the Ancient Greeks who supposedly labelled non-Greek speakers as barbarians becuase their language sounded like sheep bleating! The Romans then adopted the word to mean a similar thing, although I don't think the word would have instilled too much terror into the Romans as they actually employed "barbarians" in the Roman Army.

In modern usage, I would suggest that acts of terrorism could be described as "barbarous", but I don't think the perpetrators could accurately be described as "barbarians".

Answer 2

Yay, stirring up some controversy. That's the hip-hop way. Lol Just kidding. Umm technically speaking, there's a two-letter difference. But seriously, think about this. A black guy goes up to his white friend and says, "What's up my n*gga?". The white guy responds, "Chillin". What you're saying is that the black guy said the white guy was a n*gger...(and that's incorrect) So in a way, the word has evolved past it's slang version of the word n*gger and has now been used as a noun for a person, regardless of race. There will always be people who don't like the word being used but it's been proliferated to the point that you can't do much about it. And just remember this, I didn't change the meaning of the word, society did. How many songs(particularly rap songs) have used the word?

Answer 3

The term "barbarian" wasn't used to instill fear as much as to denote the ignorance of the uncivilized non Roman tribes. Particularly the Celts for whom the name was originally used.
The gaelic spoken by the northern tribes was so difficult to recognize as a language that the Romans thought it sounded like the sound that sheep make. Baa,Baa, Barbarians. Later the term was used to indicate anyone not found within the sphere of the Roman Empire.