بَرْبَرُ
Root: بر
Full Definition
بَرْبَرُ
, or البَرْبَرُ, [a coll. gen. proper name, of which the n. un., or rel. n., is
بَرْبَرِىٌّ ,] a foreign word, [probably of African origin, the primary form of which is the source of
βάρβαρος , &c.,] arabicized; or, as some say, from بَرْبَرَةٌ in speech; and البَرَابِرَةُ, the pl. of بَرْبَرُ, or of البَرْبَرُ, [or of بَرْبَرِىٌّ, agreeably with what follows and with analogy,] the ة being added because the sing. is a foreign word, or [so in the M and TA, but in the S “ and, ”] a rel. n., but it may be elided; [so that one may say البَرَابِرُ;] A certain people, of the inhabitants of El-Maghrib [or Northern Africa west of Egypt], like the Arabs of the desert in hardness, and coarseness, or rudeness, and in slightness of religion, and littleness of knowledge: and another people, [the Colobi mentioned by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo,] between the Abyssinians and the Zinj, who amputate [the glans of] the penis, and make it a dowry for a wife. [There are various opinions of the origins of these races. The appellation of البَرَابِرَةُ, sing.
بَرْبَرِىٌّ , is also applied by late historians, and in the present day, to The races inhabiting the portion of the valley of the Nile which we commonly call Nubia.]
Lane's Lexicon
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Hans Wehr
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Mufradat
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