Barbary
(ˈbɑːbərɪ)
Forms: 4 barberie, 5 barbre, barbarie, -ye, 6 barbery, 5– barbary.
[I. a. OF. barbarie, ad. L. barbaria, barbariēs, ‘land of barbarians, barbarism,’ f. barbar-us barbarous. In II. ult f. Arab. Barbar, Berber, applied by the Arab geographers from ancient times to the natives of N. Africa, west and south of Egypt. According to some native lexicographers, of native origin, f. Arab. barbara ‘to talk noisily and confusedly’ (which is not derived from Gr. βάρβαρος); according to others, a foreign word, African, Egyptian, or perh. from Greek. The actual relations (if any) of the Arabic and Gr. words cannot be settled; but in European langs. Barbaria, Barbarie, Barbary, have from the first been treated as identical with L. barbaria, Byzantine Gr. βαρβαρία land of barbarians: see sense 1.]
I. Barbarous nationality, state, or speech.
† 1. Foreign nationality; esp. non-Christian, i.e. Saracen or pagan nationality; heathenism. concr. Non-Christian lands. Also attrib. = Paynim. Obs.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter cxiv. 1 In oute-gate of Iraele, Oute of Egipt..Of the folke of barberie. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 183 Allas, vnto the Barbre nacion I moste goon. 1432–50 tr. Higden (1865) I. 323 Wytlandia is..inhabite with peple of barbre worschippenge ydoles. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxviii. 263 His fame..come in to hethnes and barbarye. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xv. 23 Hys hosing schane of wark of Barbary. 1629 Gaule Pract. The. 39 Not in the Barbary onely of a barbarous World, but in the Greece also of a gracious Church. |
† 2. Barbarity, barbarism, barbarousness. Obs.
| 1564 Becon Flower Godly Pr. (1844) 42 Nothing but cruel barbary and lion-like fierceness. a 1571 J. Jewel Serm. bef. Queen (1583), Come to such ignorance and barbarie. 1635 Skidmore in F. Lee Valid. Anglic. Ord. (1869) 84 Through tyrannical subjection and mere barbary of their inhabitants. |
† 3. Uncultivated speech, as opposed to a classical language or classic diction. Also attrib. Obs.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. 38 The langage rude..The barbary tongue. Ibid. 48 Tolde wyth tongue of barbary, In rude maner. 1608 Tourneur Rev. Trag. iv. ii. 107 Their common talke is nothing but Barbery Latin. |
II. as proper name.
4. The Saracen countries along the north coast of Africa. (The only surviving sense.)
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 272 From Lisbon, Barbary, and India. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. li, Has justly settled as a local denomination (Barbary) along the northern coast of Africa. 1843 Macaulay Addison, Ess. (1874) 701 The Polity and Religion of Barbary. |
b. attrib., esp. Barbary ape, gum, hen, horse.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 108 Hee will not swagger with a Barbarie Henne. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 227 Which the common people call Barbary Horses. 1611 Markham Countr. Content i. v, The Barbary Faulcon, the Merlin and the Hobby. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. iii. vi. 75 They [the Guinea-hen] are by some called the Barbary-hen. 1849 Browning Soliloquy Sp. Cloister Poems II. 269 As 'twere a Barbary Corsair's. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 289 Barbary Gum, sometimes called Morocco gum, the product of the Acacia gummifera, imported from Tripoli, etc. Mod. The only quadrumanous animal found in Europe is the Barbary Ape, of which a colony exists on the rock of Gibraltar. |
c. ellipt. † A Barbary horse, a barb. Obs. Also, A kind of fancy pigeon. Cf. barb n.3
| 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. i, Be seen o' your Barbary often. 1653 J. Hall Paradoxes 145 That could outrun a Hart or a Barbary. 1834 R. Mudie Feath. Tribes Brit. I. 74. |