1st Corinthians 14:11 "barbarian"

[Paul Younan]

November 8, 2004

A Greek teacher says that the word "barbarian" in 1st Corinthians 14:11 shows that it was written by a Greek speaker. She claims that to the ethnocentric Greeks those who did not speak Greek sounded like they were saying, "bar bar bar bar..." Hence the Greek word barbaros- a negative word to those who do not speak Greek. An Aramaic writer would not use this word.

Analysis please.....

Otto

Shlama Akhi Otto,

That's a humorous analysis seeing that the very word "Barbarian" itself is Aramaic. The Greek word derives not from "bar bar bar bar", as nobody went around speaking like that.

The Aramaic word from which the Greek is derived is "bar-barea", which means "son of the wilderness/desert." This is denote those people who wandered about in tents (like Arabs) and did not dwell in the cities like those of Mesopotamia (Babylon, Nineveh, etc.)

The Peshitta in 1Cor. 14:11 contains the original Aramaic word "son of the wilderness", not the Greek copy.