Libra

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lībra (“balance, pair of scales; pound; the constellation”),^[2][3][4][5] in Middle English as libra.^[6][4] Etymonline and de Vaan give the Latin word's source as Proto-Italic *leithra- (“pound”),^[2][7] and Klein likewise starts from an earlier *liþrā.^[8] De Vaan takes Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra, “a Sicilian coin”) as probably borrowed from an Italic language at that stage.^[7][2] The Latin word is also behind level, through its diminutive lībella (“small silver coin; plumb-line”), and deliberate, through a verb meaning to weigh influenced by līberō (“to free”).^[9][7] The English abbreviations “lb” and “£” continue it in its medieval Latin use for a pound.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The constellation and sign: late Old English in Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford,^[2][5] before the 12th century in Merriam-Webster.^[10] The Roman pound is first recorded before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word is recorded as a measure of weight, a pound, from the Twelve Tables, and as a pair of scales only from Varro.^[7] The stars themselves were not a separate constellation in ancient Greece, where they were the claws of the neighbouring Scorpius,^[2] and Old Norse rendered the Latin name as skala-merki.^[2] Chaucer used Libra for the sign seventeen times and Gower three.^[11] Written in lowercase, libra is the Roman measure in English,^[5][3] and the Middle English word could also mean the English pound sterling.^[6] The constellation gave its name to the sign and once coincided with it.^[12] The use for a person born under the sign is dated to 1894 by Etymonline and to the mid 20th century by the Shorter Oxford,^[2][5] and Libran to 1911 by Merriam-Webster.^[10]

Timeline

• late Old English – the constellation.^[2][5] The OED's first astronomical quotation is from 1493.^[3]
• c. 1390 – the sign of the zodiac, in Chaucer.^[6] The OED first records it in Trevisa, 1398.^[3]
• before 1398 – the Roman pound, as libra.^[3]
• 1797 – an arm of a balance (obsolete).^[3]
• 1894 – a person born under the sign.^[2] The OED first records this in 1969.^[3]
• 1911 – the derivative Libran.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, faint constellation of the southern sky on the ecliptic, between Virgo and Scorpius, pictured as a pair of scales.^[13][10][3]
2. The seventh sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about 23 September.^[13][3][14]
3. A person born under this sign.^[13][3][4]
4. libra: a unit of weight in ancient Rome, a pound of about 12 ounces.^[13][3][4]

Adjective

1. Born under, or typical of, the sign of Libra.^[13][3]

Word family

• Libran

Related words

• level
• litre
• lira
• livre
• deliberate
• equilibrium
• librate

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists a further lowercase libra, pronounced /ˈli vrɑ/, a name for the sol as a money term, taken from Spanish and going back to the same Latin word.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House