Abarbarous name (Latin:nomen barbarum;pl. nomina barbara) is a meaningless (or seemingly meaningless) word used inmagicrituals. The termbarbarous comes from the Greekbarbaroi (Ancient Greek:βάρβαροι), meaning one to whom a pure Greek dialect is not native; one who is not a proper Greek, (barbarians). Often these names were derived from foreign sources and acquired their "barbarous" nature from the magician's lack of understanding of that language.[1][2]
Many ancient barbarous names were ofEgyptian origin,[1][2] though there were plenty ofHebrew andPersian names that were corrupted by transcription intoGreek.[1] They appear throughout theGreek Magical Papyri,[1][2] a notable example being "ablanathanalba".[1]
Iamblichus discusses barbarous names, warning magiciansnot to translate them even if their original meaning is discovered, due to the belief that the power of the names resided in their sound, not their meaning.[1] The term also appears in theChaldean Oracles.[3][4]
By the medieval period most were from Greek and Hebrew sources, such as "anexhexeton".[1]Gemistus Pletho censored references to barbarous names (as well as Christianity) inMichael Psellos's copy of theChaldean Oracles.[4]
TheEnochian language ofJohn Dee andEdward Kelley introduced a variety of barbarous names to modern magical practice.[1][2]
In the modern era,Aleister Crowley, like Iamblichus before him, argued that the supposed effectiveness of barbarous names rested in their utterance, not their meaning.[2][5]