بَرْبَرُ

, (S, K,) or البَرْبَرُ, (Mgh, Msb,) [a coll. gen. proper name, of which the n. un., or rel. n., is ↓ بَرْبَرِىٌّ,] a foreign word, (S,) [probably of African origin, the primary form of which is the source of βάρβαρος, &c.,] arabicized; (Msb;) or, as some say, from بَرْبَرَةٌ in speech; (TA; [see R. Q. 1;]) and البَرَابِرَةُ, (S, M, Msb, K,) the plural of بَرْبَرُ, (K,) or of البَرْبَرُ, (Msb,) [or of بَرْبَرِىٌّ, agreeably with what follows and with analogy,] the ة being added because the singular is a foreign word, or [so in the M and TA, but in the S “ and, ”] a rel. n., (S, M,) but it may be elided; [so that one may say البَرَابِرُ;] (S;) A certain people, (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K,) of the inhabitants of El-Maghrib [or Northern Africa west of Egypt], (Mgh, * Msb, K, *) like the Arabs of the desert in hardness, and coarseness, or rudeness, (Mgh, * Msb,) and in slightness of religion, and littleness of knowledge: (Mgh:) and another people, [the Colobi mentioned by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo,] between the Abyssinians and the Zinj, who amputate [the glans of] the penis, and make it a dowry for a wife. (K.) [There are various opinions of the origins of these races. The appellation of البَرَابِرَةُ, singular ↓ بَرْبَرِىٌّ, is also applied by late historians, and in the present day, to The races inhabiting the portion of the valley of the Nile which we commonly call Nubia.]