barbarian
Barbaros identifies people outside a Greek group or marks mutual unintelligibility when a voice’s meaning is unknown.
The term most often identifies people set alongside Greeks or other named social groups, while one occurrence applies it reciprocally when speakers cannot understand a voice’s meaning.
Senses in use
-
People distinguished from Greeks or other groups · dominant
In Romans 1:14, the dative plural occurs in a paired obligation “both to Greeks and to barbarians.” In Colossians 3:11, the singular stands within a list that includes Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, Scythian, slave, and free; Acts 28:2 and Acts 28:4 use the nominative plural for the people who kindle a fire, welcome the group, and comment on the man with the animal on his hand.
-
Mutual unintelligibility between speakers · rare
In 1 Corinthians 14:11, the nominative singular is used reciprocally: if the meaning of the voice is unknown, the hearer is such a person to the speaker and the speaker to the hearer. The APB renders the clause “I will be a barbarian to the one speaking, and the one speaking will be a barbarian to me.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB uses “barbarians” for the plural group in Acts and Romans and “barbarian” in Colossians and the reciprocal statement of 1 Corinthians 14:11. These renderings confirm the clauses but do not by themselves define the term.