Origin: 1400–50; late Middle English < Latin barbarus < Greek bárbaros non-Greek, foreign, barbarian; akin to Sanskrit barbara stammering, non-Aryan; see -ous
[C15: via Latin from Greek barbaros barbarian, non-Greek, in origin imitative of incomprehensible speech; compare Sanskrit barbara stammering, non-Aryan]
1520s, "not Greek or Latin" (pertaining to words or language), from L. barbarus, from Gk. barbaros (see barbarian). Meaning "uncultured, savage" is recorded from 1530s; that of "savagely cruel" is from 1580s.