Quick Definition
βάρβαρος, ου, ὁ Adj a foreigner who speaks neither Greek nor Latin
Strong's Definition
of uncertain derivation; a foreigner (i.e. non-Greek)
KJV Usage: barbarian(-rous)
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
adjc. | -ον
11.95 · Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes · Ethnic-Cultural
non-Greek a person not participating in Greek culture and civilization (βάρβαρος contrasts with Ἕλλην[a] ‘Greek,’ 11.90, with the focus on culture rather than on language; see 1CO 14:11 at 11.94) It would be a mistake in the case of ROM 1:14 to speak merely of ‘Greeks and barbarians’ or ‘Greeks and savages.’ By NT times Ἕλλην (see 11.90) would have included most of those who participated in one way or another in the culture of the Greco-Roman world. Accordingly, one may render the contrast in ROM 1:14 as ‘the civilized and the uncivilized.’
11.94 · Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes · Ethnic-Cultural
native people, uncivilized, foreigners the native people of an area in which a language other than Greek or Latin was spoken (such persons would be regarded as being outside the civilized world of NT times) In rendering this expression in ACT 28:2 it would be possible in some languages to translate ‘the people there who spoke a strange language were friendly to us’ or ‘the local inhabitants of that island were kind to us.’ ἔσομαι τῷ λαλοῦντι βάρβαρος καὶ ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ βάρβαρος ‘I will be a foreigner to the one who speaks, and the one who speaks will be a foreigner to me’ 1CO 14:11. In 1CO 14:11 βάρβαρος implies being a foreigner from a country outside of the so-called civilized world.
41.31 · Behavior and Related States · Particular Patterns of Behavior
uncivilized, barbarian a pattern of behavior associated with a low cultural level Regardless of the level of culture or civilization, each ethnic group seems to be able to point to some other group regarded as being uncivilized. In some languages such a group is identified as ‘those who live far away’ or ‘those who do not live in towns’ or ‘those who are very strange.’ In COL 3:11 Σκύθης ‘Scythian’ (93.583) may represent a state of civilization even lower than that implied by βάρβαρος ‘barbarian.’
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
βάρβαρος, -ov ; 1. prop. one whose speech is rude, rough, harsh, as if repeating the syllables βαρβάρ (cf. Strabo 14, 2, 28 p.662; ὠνοματοπεποίηται ἡ λέξις, Etym. Magn. [188,11 (but Gaisf. reads Bpayyos for βάρβαρος) ; cf. Curtius § 394; Vanicek p. 561]); hence 2. one who speaks a foreign or strange language which is not understood by another (Hdt. 2, 158 βαρβάρους πάντας οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καλέουσι τοὺς μὴ σφίσι ὁμογλώσσους, Ovid. trist. 5, 10, 37 barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intelligor ulli) ; so 1 Co. xiv. 11. 3. The Greeks used BapBapos of any foreigner ignorant of the Greek language and the Greek culture, whether mental or moral, with the added notion, after the Persian war, of rudeness and brutality. Hence the word is applied in the N. T., but not reproachfully, in Acts xxviii. 2, 4, to the inhabitants of Malta [i. e. Μελίτη, q- v-], who were of Phenician or Punie origin; and to those nations that had, indeed, some refinement of manners, but not the opportunity of becoming Christians, as the Scythians, Col. iii. 11 | but οἵ. Bp. Lghtft. ad loe.]. But the phrase "EAAqves τε καὶ βάρβαροι forms also a periphrasis for all peoples, or indicates their diversity yet without reproach to foreigners (Plat. Theaet. p. 175 a.; Isocr. Euag. c. 17 p. 192b.; Joseph. antt. 4, 2,1 and in other writ.) ; so in Ro. i. 14. (In Philo de Abr. § 45 sub fin. of all nations not Jews. Josephus Ὁ. j. prooem. 1 reckons the Jews among barbarians.) Cf. Grimm on 2 Mace. ii. 21 p. 61; [Bp. Lghtft. on Col. u. s.; B.D. 5. v. Barbarian ].
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
βάρβαρος barbaros 6x
pr. one to whom a pure Greek dialect is not native; one who is not a proper Greek, a barbarian, Rom. 1:14; Col. 3:11; Acts 28:2, 4; a foreigner speaking a strange language, 1 Cor. 14:11*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
βάρβαρος, -ον
(prob. onomatop., descriptive of unintelligible sounds), [in LXX: Ps 113 (114):1 (לעז), Ez 21:31 (36) (בּער), II Mac 2:21 4:25 10:4, III Mac 3:24*;]
barbarous, barbarian, strange to Greek language and culture (and also, after the Persian war, with the added sense of brutal, rude): Ac 28:2, 4, Ro 1:14, I Co 14:11, Col 3:11 (v. Lft., in l., and Notes, 249).†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
βάρβαρος. For the contrast with "EAAnv see OG/S 765%° (iii/B.C.) αὐτὸς δὲ ἀντετά[ξ]ατο πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀ[τ]ιμ[ἀζοντάς τε ἡμᾶς] .. - καὶ εἰς τοὺς “Ελληνας [παρανομοῦντας ;, cf. 15, 19, 21, 32. 74, 7631 (letter of Eumenes II., ii/B.c.) ἀναδείξας ἐμαυτὸν εὐεργέτην τῶν Ἑλλήνων πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας ὑπέστην πρὸς τοὺ[5] BapBapovs—apparently the Galatae, see Dittenberger’s note, and for a similar reference Magn 46°. Berber is used in the same way by Egyptians to denote non-Egyptian peoples. In P Lond 4105 (¢. A.D. 346) (= II. p. 298) a mother beseeches Abinnaeus to release | from service her son—amfAOev οὖν μετὰ τὸν βάρβαρον. P Par 10®(p.c. 145) tells of a Syrian slave ἐστιγμένος τὸν δεξιὸν καρπὸν γράμμασι βαρβαρικοῖς. presumably Syrian. The more ethical sense of the word (as Ezra 2131(36}) may be | illustrated from Aristeas 122 τὸ τραχὺ καὶ βάρβαρον τῆς διανοίας.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
βάρβαρος (barbaros) — barbarian. βάρβᾰρος, ον, barbarous, i.e. non-Greek, foreign, not in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; especially as substantive βάρβαροι, οἱ, originally all non-Greek-speaking peoples, then specially of the Medes and Persians, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; β. πόλεμον war with the barbarians, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ βάρβαρος (i.e. γῆ), opposed to αἱ Ἑλληνίδες πόλεις, [Refs 5th c.BC+] adverb -ρως, opposed to Ἑλληνικῶς,[Refs 3rd c.AD+]
2. especially of language, φωνὴ β. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; συλλραφαί[Refs 4th c.BC+]; of birds, [Refs 5th c.BC+] adverb, βαρβάρως, ὠνόμασται have foreign names, [Refs 1st c.BC+]
3. Grammars, of bad Greek, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; τὸ β., of style, opposed to Ἑλληνικόν, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]
II. after the Persian war, brutal, rude, ἀμαθὴς καὶ β. [Refs 5th c.BC+]: comparative -ώτερος[Refs 5th c.BC+] Eph.2.4: superlative, πάντων βαρβαρώτατος θεῶν [Refs 5th c.BC+]
III. used by Jews of Greeks, [LXX]
IV. name for various plasters, [Refs 1st c.BC+]