Priests chatter — to barbarian first (8)

I believe the answer is:

tohungas

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'priests' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'chatter to barbarian first' is the wordplay.
'chatter' becomes 'gas' (I've seen this before).
'barbarian' becomes 'hun' (as in Atilla the Hun).
'first' says to put letters next to each other.
'to'+'hun'='tohun'
'gas' put after 'tohun' is 'TOHUNGAS'.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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