Language, vocal organs and barbarophonoi: Strabo, 14.2.28

Abstract

The geographer Strabo, commenting on the Homeric term “barbarophōnoi”, upholds the onomatopoeic origin of the term barbaros and outlines an history of its usage, which goes from the meaning of “speak roughly” to the one of “mispronunciation” of Greek (Geog. 14.2.28). In order to interpret the passage, pertinent texts from the medical and acoustic-musical are discussed. It is concluded that Strabo is familiar with the ideas about voice and language from the Greek tradition, which lead him to a definition of barbaros based, mainly, on a linguistic criterion.