<story><title>The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen (1899)</title><url>https://www.gutenberg.org/files/833/833-h/833-h.htm#link2HCH0001</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>alephnil</author><text>Veblen uses the word &amp;quot;Barbarian&amp;quot; in a way I have not seen before. For example he mentions European and Japanese Feudal societies as &amp;quot;higher Barbarian cultures&amp;quot;, and others as &amp;quot;Lower Barbarian&amp;quot;. The common use of &amp;quot;Barbarian&amp;quot; I have seen are entirely derogatory, and not something that would have been used in a serious work like this. Anyone that know what its meaning is in this context?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hythloday</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s the usage that originated with Lewis H. Morgan. Engels used it in &amp;quot;The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State&amp;quot;, which Wikipedia has a good summary of:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Barbarism – the period during which man learns to breed domestic animals and to practice agriculture, and acquires methods of increasing the supply of natural products by human activity.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Origin_of_the_Family&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Origin_of_the_Family&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen (1899)</title><url>https://www.gutenberg.org/files/833/833-h/833-h.htm#link2HCH0001</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>alephnil</author><text>Veblen uses the word &amp;quot;Barbarian&amp;quot; in a way I have not seen before. For example he mentions European and Japanese Feudal societies as &amp;quot;higher Barbarian cultures&amp;quot;, and others as &amp;quot;Lower Barbarian&amp;quot;. The common use of &amp;quot;Barbarian&amp;quot; I have seen are entirely derogatory, and not something that would have been used in a serious work like this. Anyone that know what its meaning is in this context?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TuringTest</author><text>The original meaning of &amp;quot;barbarian&amp;quot; was akin to &amp;quot;not Roman&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;foreigner&amp;quot; (more precisely, someone not belonging to any of the classic civilizations).&lt;p&gt;Akin to &amp;quot;villanus&amp;quot; (someone living in a village), it took a derogatory tone later, as someone &amp;quot;uncivilized&amp;quot;, but that was not part of its literal meaning.</text></comment>