Are Germans decedents of Barbarians?

Question

Babarian culture?

Answer 1

The Barbaric Germanic tribes of Europe Yes they are

But in fairness so were we all -

No race or ethnic group started out asking for a soup spoon and so forth

I somtimes think we were more civilzed when we were "barbarians" Remember it is always an outside group that gives someone that label

No one sat in thier own tribe, clan or whatever and said Hey Bob we are barbarians we should do somthing about that

Answer 2

the only actual barbarians are from the barbaros region.  the russian word for germans translates as 'non speakers'.  barbarian has been used to describe almost any culture that the writer viewed as inferior to his/hers.

Answer 3

The ancient romans called the ancient germans barbarians.  But they did not call themselves that.  So the answer to your question is a matter of perspective.

Answer 4

Germanic Tribes. Up to the last century, it was a widely held belief that German history began in the year A.D. 9. That was when Arminius, a prince of a Germanic tribe called the Cherusci, vanquished three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest (southeast of modern-day Bielefeld). Arminius, about whom not much else is known, was regarded as the first German national hero, and a huge memorial to him was built near Detmold in the years 1838-75.

Nowadays a less simplistic view is taken. The gradual emergence of a distinctly German nation was a process which took hundreds of years. The German nation essentially grew out of a number of German tribes such as the Franks, the Saxons, the Swabians and the Bavarians. These old tribes have of course long since lost their original character, but their traditions and dialects live on in their respective regions. Those ethnic regions are not, however, identical to the present states (Länder), most of which were only formed after the Second World War in agreement with the occupying powers. In many cases the boundaries were drawn without any consideration for old traditions. Furthermore, the flows of refugees and the massive postwar migrations, but also the mobility of the modern industrial society, have more or less blurred the ethnic boundaries.

Answer 5

Well said Mr. Crankypants.

And you, Fred, instead of worrying about Barbarians, learn to spell.  Now, on a sheet of paper write 10 times: descendants.

1) Barbarian, onomatopoeic word originally used adjectivally by Homer to describe the speech of the Carians of southwest Asia Minor, though he nowhere speaks of barbarians. The name came later to be applied to all non-Greek-speaking peoples, and was subsequently applied to the Persians in particular when their rise to power threatened Greek freedom in the early fifth century BC. The word thus came to have a cultural rather than a merely linguistic significance, and described people outside the orbit of the Greek city-states, whether or not they spoke Greek; barbarians were therefore thought to be uncivilized, cowardly, cruel, treacherous, and lacking in self-control. However, intellectuals from Democritus and Euripides onwards occasionally emphasized instead the natural unity of all mankind, and Eratosthenes (2) in his Geographica, makes a plea that people should be divided not into Greeks and barbarians but into good and bad: ‘for many Greeks are bad, and many barbarians civilized, notably the Indians and Arians, and again the Romans and Carthaginians, who enjoy such admirable forms of government.’

Alexander the Great may have tried to give these ideas some political reality by founding cities where Greeks and barbarians could coexist on a basis of complete equality, but the old division prevailed. The Romans adopted the word ‘barbarian’ and its general significance, but expanded its reference to include anyone not Greek or Roman. The Roman comic poet, Plautus, whose plays were adaptations from the Greek, uses the word from the Greek point of view for comic effect to describe a Roman or Italian.

2) Today's wild word comes, via Latin, from Greek barbaros "foreign, strange, ignorant". This word may have come from a PIE base *barbar- or from Arabic barbara "to babble", both of which are onomatopoetic imitations of babbling speech. The Arabic word was applied by the Arab geographers in ancient times to the natives of North Africa to the west and south of Egypt. In fact, this is probably the origin of the name of the Barbary Coast, better known for its more recent harboring of barbarian pirates. Moreover, it is probably related to Berber, the Semitic language spoken there.

Answer 6

A barbarian is what the Greeks used to refer to any foreigner as.  Since Germans would have been foreign to Greeks, yes, they are descendants of barbarians.

Answer 7

As a matter of fact YES.

When the Romans first encountered the Germanic tribes, those Germans were very much like the American Indians of North America.  Those German 'Barbarians' wore feathers, leather clothing, and had flint tools and spears, and lived in warring tribes just like Commanches, Apaches, and the Arapaho indians.

In fact all the caucasians of Northern Europe were living a neolithic lifestyle when the Romans first encountered them.  At that time Rome was a modern civilization and the Roman Legions were a modern army.

So the term 'barbarian' is relavant against those who use it and to whom they are using it.

Barbarian Culture?  That is also a relavant expression.  The U.S. Calvalry thought the Sioux Indians were a barbarian culture.

Answer 8

all of us where once.

Answer 9

Yes, they are... the actual ancestry is celtic, actually.

The romans called them Barbarians because they made fun of the way they sounded... the "Bah Bah" of their speech sounded like the way sheep sounded to the Roman ears... so they called them "Bah Bah rians."

Answer 10

Even the great Chinese were once 'barbarians'. The Romans, for all their pride, were once a minor tribe of perverts. Who began in the world 'nobly'? By default, each appears 'civilised' when compared with those who surround them, at certain times.