A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1558-1626
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Barbarous, -arus, a. [e.m.E. barbarouse (1526). -arous. L. barbarus. Cf. Barbar a.]
1. Rude, uncultivated, illiterate.1560 Rolland Seven Sages Prol. 67 (with barbarus termes). 1596 Dalr. I. 97 (sum barbarous wryteris).
2. Uncivilized, savage.1558-66 Knox II. 408 (ane barbarous creweltie). 1572 Reg. Privy C. II. 140 (thir mischevus and barbarus crewelteis). a1585 Maitland Quarto MS lxvi. 79 (mair cruell then tyran barbarous). 1591 Antiq. Aberd. & B. IV. 52 (in barbarus maner). 1604 Shetland Sheriff Ct. 131 (out of the Hilandis and wtheris barbarous partis). 1622-6 Bisset II. 292/18 (the barbarus nationis).
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"Barbarous adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/barbarous>
