'barbarianize' originates from Modern English, specifically formed from 'barbarian' + the suffix '-ize', where 'barbarian' meant 'a foreign or uncivilized person' and '-ize' meant 'to make or to render'.

'barbarianize' developed from the noun 'barbarian' (from Greek 'barbaros' via Latin and Old French) combined with the productive English verbal suffix '-ize' (from Greek '-izein' through Latin and French), producing the sense 'to make into a barbarian' and related senses.

Initially it carried the literal sense 'to make someone a barbarian'; over time it has been used more broadly to mean 'to render barbaric or uncivilized' or 'to treat cruelly', while retaining the core sense of causing a loss of civilization or civility.