'barye' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'barýs', where 'barýs' meant 'heavy'.

'barye' was adopted into scientific nomenclature in the 19th century (through modern scientific French and international usage) as the name for a CGS unit of pressure and eventually entered English technical vocabulary as 'barye'.

Initially related to the notion of 'weight' or 'heaviness', the term evolved to become a technical label for a unit measuring pressure rather than describing weight itself.