Revised as of 28 March 2022
It began with the oh-so superior ancient Greeks who saw anyone who was not Greek or could not speak Greek as a barbarian. Naturally, each succeeding nation that conquered became the ultimate civilized person with all others the barbarians with their barbaric and barbarous cultures.
So, you can see there isn’t much to choose from between barbaric or barbarous — they both mean much the same thing, i.e., uncivilized behavior, cruel, excessively harsh or vicious, brutal, etc.
Nor can various writing, reference, or editing sites agree on which to use when, although a slim majority tend towards barbaric having some positives to it with phrases such as barbaric splendor, wild, barbaric music, barbaric pearls and gold, etc., meanwhile, barbarous is more along the negative with such phrases as barbarous cruelty, barbarous torture, barbarous behavior, and barbarous tongue referring to language.
Of course, some sites see barbarous as being the more positive. In the end, it’s up to you, as both words boil down to brutal cruelty.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
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| Barbaric | Barbarous |
|---|---|
At Night in Las Vegas by Michelle Raponi is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — The barbaric splendor that is Las Vegas. |
London Protest Against Saudi Arabia’s Detention of Prisoner of Conscience Raif Badawi by alisdare1 is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Foter.com. — A barbarous punishment by an uncivilized country. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective | Adjective |
Savagely cruel
Primitive
Without civilizing influences Of, like, or befitting an uncultured or brutish person
Crudely rich or splendid |
Savagely cruel
Primitive and uncivilized
Being in the state of an uncivilized person or people Peopled with an uncivilized person or people |
| Examples: | |
| The environment of the venue was barbaric.
He had carried out barbaric acts in the name of war. There was a barbaric splendor he found in civilizations since destroyed. Hunting is a barbaric remnant from our primitive past. What can we, the uncultured, unsophisticated, unwashed, barbaric, tacky, and ignorant masses learn from the Mother Continent this time around? The death of any living creature to satisfy an urge based in a primitive and barbaric past is morally wrong. I smirked, “Well I suppose even someone as rude and barbaric as me has manners.” He may be an emperor, but his residence is a gaudy palace of barbaric decorations. |
Terrorism is barbarous.
Many early child-rearing practices were barbarous by modern standards. “These horrific and barbarous attacks on civilians overnight in Casablanca demonstrated a callous disregard for all human life, regardless of nationality,” he said. Yes it is brutal, savage, and barbarous — but I have so much respect for the bravery of heavyweight boxers. You non-vegetarians are barbarous murderers, but please stop hurting our feelings by challenging the wisdom of a vegetarian diet! But it’s okay for you vegetarians to call us barbarous murderers?? Before Hitler’s atrocities exposed the barbarous extremes of social engineering, eugenic views were regarded as radical visions of social reform. The rites that he practiced were of an uncouth, barbarous, and unusual nature. I don’t think it needs to be described in that barbarous language, which has become infected by that awful poltroon, Foucault. Full of zesty barbarous language and wordplay, it reminds me of why Wilde is so revered. For many people in England and elsewhere, the terms Anglo-English, England English, and English English are tautologous and barbarous. They were viewed as a barbarous people, living in a barbarous country. “By their barbarous usage he died within a few days, to the grief of all that knew him.” – Clarendon. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adverb: barbarically, barbarizing, nonbarbaric, prebarbaric Noun: barbarian, barbarism, barbarities, barbarity, barbarization Verb: barbarise, barbarize |
Adverb: barbarously Noun: barbarousness |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English as a noun in the sense a barbarian from the Old French barbarique, or via Latin from the Greek barbarikos, which is from barbaros meaning foreign, especially with reference to speech. | Late Middle English via the Latin from the Greek barbaros meaning foreign + -ous. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
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Resources for Barbaric versus Barbarous
Apple Dictionary.com
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English: barbaric, <http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/cide/14517/Barbaric>, and barbarous, <http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/cide/14528/Barbarous>
Oxford Living Dictionaries: barbaric, barbarous
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Image from page 913 of Stories for the Household, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/14752474532/fb429689fe/>, 1889, is courtesy of Internet Archive Book Images> and has no known copyright restrictions, via Foter.com.
