EB literally?

[Lord Condormanius]

I know the Latin. I know what they mean literally. The "Barbarian's Europes?" That would be an odd construct. I was thinking more along the lines of the contrast between "Europe of the Barbarians" and the "Barbarians of Europe."

Thanks.

[Magnificant me]

If you know the Latin then you know that barbarian was the term used to describe a forigner, particularly the Germanic kind due to the way the speek and how it is simular to a sheep noise. Once you put all that in there it should make some good sence, kind of.

[Lord Condormanius]

Kind of. Its actually derived from an adverb (barbarus, -a, -um) in Latin.

The ber ber noise thing you're talking about is older than Latin and the Romans. The Greeks used the word barbaros to refer to the people they encountered that could not speak Greek.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

And thus the true(original) meaning of barbarian is non-greek.

[Lord Condormanius]

And thus the true(original) meaning of barbarian is non-greek.

non-Greek, meaning a person that does not speak Greek.

[Zenith Darksea]

However it's wrong to say that it didn't have negative overtones. It may have meant 'foreigner' rather than simply 'barbarian', but it still implies inferiority. In a positive or neutral sense, the word for 'foreigner' would be 'xenos'. 'Barbaros' does imply that the person isn't as good as a Greek, and often this does mean that their culture is inferior too.

[Lord Condormanius]

However it's wrong to say that it didn't have negative overtones. It may have meant 'foreigner' rather than simply 'barbarian', but it still implies inferiority.

It certainly does. They probably said it with an air condescending disgust.