Etymologically
Log in

liberty

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 04:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈlɪb.ə.ti/, US /ˈlɪb.ɚ.t̬i/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English liberte, libertee, borrowed from Old French liberte (“freedom, liberty, free will”) (modern French liberté),[2][3][4] a learned borrowing of Latin lībertās (“civil or political freedom; the condition of a free man”) (accusative libertatem),[2][3] from līber (“free”) (see liberal).[2][3][4][5] Word Origins notes that libertine, livery and deliver come from the same Latin adjective.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Free choice, freedom to do as one likes, and release from captivity or slavery: about 1375, in Chaucer, in Barnhart;[3] c. 1386 in the OED for release from bondage.[7] The religious sense, freedom from the bondage of sin, is in Wycliffe in 1382.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

Used at first of persons, it was said of communities free from despotic rule by the late 15th century, 1484 in the OED.[2][7] Privileges granted by a sovereign (14th century) led to the sense of an area where such privileges applied, a person's private land in the mid-15th century, and in the 18th century, in England and America, a district with its own justice of the peace or partly under a city's jurisdiction, as in the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia.[2] Unrestrained conduct or speech is from the 1550s, which led to take liberties, go beyond what is proper, in the 1620s.[2][7] The nautical sense, leave of absence from a ship, is from 1758.[2][7] The American Revolutionary liberty pole is from 1775 and the liberty cap from 1803;[2] the red cap of liberty worn in the French Revolution was the kind once given to Roman slaves when they were freed, according to Word Origins.[6] In Durham, Yorkshire and the south-west, liberty was used in dialect for leave or permission.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1375 – free choice, freedom, in Chaucer.[3]
  • 1382 – freedom from the bondage of sin.[7]
  • 14th century – privileges by grant.[2]
  • 1484 – freedom from despotic rule.[7]
  • 1550s – unrestrained conduct.[2]
  • 1620s – take liberties.[2]
  • 1758 – shore leave for sailors.[2][7]
  • 1775 – liberty pole.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The condition of being free from control or restriction.
  2. The right and power to act, think and speak as one chooses.
  3. Freedom from captivity, slavery or imprisonment.
  4. Political freedom from arbitrary or despotic rule.
  5. (often plural) A remark or action that goes beyond what is proper: to take liberties.
  6. (nautical) Short leave from a ship.

Word family

  • liberty pole
  • liberty loan
  • civil liberty
  • liberty bond
  • liberty cap
  • liberty ship

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)