Etymology Explorer › Arabic

Where does “بَرْبَر” come from?

بَرْبَر (Arabic) comes from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος, from Proto-Indo-European balb-.

Ancestry of “بَرْبَر”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Ancient Greekβάρβαροςnon-Greek-speaking, foreign; barbaric, brutal,...
2Proto-Indo-Europeanbalb-—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European balb- →