Moustaches

[Notascooby]

I'm reading "The fall of Rome" by Bryan Ward-Perkins. In it he says( in discussing a moustachioed Theodoric) that he's unaware of any Roman or Greek depicted with a moustache( without accompanying beard) nor even a Latin word for moustache. Can anyone think of an example or indeed a reason why this would be the case?

Bit of a niche question.

 

[Avunculus H]

In dictionaries, you'll find barba labri superioris as translation for "moustache", but that is a description, not an equivalent term. There is also Neo-Latin mystax. There seems indeed not to be a word for this concept in Classical Latin. If I would look for a place for such a term to show up, it could be in a description of Gauls, who are depicted with moustaches (one famous example).
And that's perhaps one reason why Romans and Greeks didn't sport moustaches - they were seen as barbaric.

 

[Notascooby]

Reminds me of Caesars description of the inhabitants of Britain;

Omnes vero se Britanni vitro inficiunt, quod caeruleum efficit colorem, atque hoc horridiores sunt in pugna aspectu; 3 capilloque sunt promisso atque omni parte corporis rasa praeter caput et labrum superius.

I'm sure ive seen a painting of Vercingetorix depicted with a moustache so maybe moustaches were just associated with Barbarians.

 

[scrabulista]

And that's perhaps one reason why Romans and Greeks didn't sport moustaches - they were seen as barbaric.

Is there any linguistic connection between barbatus and barbarus?

 

[Avunculus H]

Is there any linguistic connection between barbatus and barbarus?

No. barba is a Latin word (cognate through Proto-Indo-European with English "beard"), while barbarus is a loan from Greek βάρβαρος; it's an onomatopoeic word, referring to non-Greeks speaking unintelligble languages , sounding to Greeks like "bar - bar- bar....". The Greek word for "beard" is πώγων (pó:go:n), which is not similar to barbaros at all..