_Barbarian_ (Vol. ii., p. 78.).--Gibbon observes that--
"In the time of Homer, when the Greeks and Asiatics might probably
use a common idiom, the imitative sound of _Bar-Bar_ was applied
to the ruder tribes, whose pronunciation was most harsh, and whose
grammar was most defective."
Ch. 51. n. 162.
Tooke's suggestion is, that the Gr. βαρυς, strong, with a
reduplication of the first syllable βαρ, gave the compound
βαρ-βαρος; their great strength being the characteristic for
which the barbarians were distinguished by the Greeks. (_Div. of
Purley_, vol. ii. p. 183. 8vo. ed.)