libre

Forms

libre m or f (masculine and feminine plural libres)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote liure and livre.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin līber (“free”), a semi-learned word.^[3][4][5] Wiktionary calls it probably a learned borrowing.^[1] Corominas explains the final ⟨-e⟩ by adaptation of the Latin nominative; he rejects Baist's view that the ⟨-e⟩ of the Spanish and Portuguese word shows an early borrowing from French, since French libre is a late and rare word in medieval French, first recorded in 1339, where the popular word was franc.^[3] Italian libero and the French word are also semi-learned.^[3] Portuguese has livre.^[6] Catalan lliure has been used since the Middle Ages, though medieval texts preferred franc and deliure.^[7]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *leuþero- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁leudʰ-ero-; related words are Venetic louderobos (“for the children”) and Faliscan loferta (“free woman”).^[8] The PIE root is *h₁lewdʰ- (“people; to grow”), which also underlies the cognates Ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros, “free”) and German Leute (“people”).^[1][8][9] The Latin adjective has no link with liber (“bark; book”), the source of libro.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a charter of 1200 in Oelschläger's list, followed by Berceo.^[3][4] The Cortes of León of 1208 declare the canons libres de toda donacion de portage “free of every toll”, and 13th-century documents often join it with quito: property is to remain libre et quito “free and clear”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the main senses: “not a slave”, “unbound, not imprisoned” and “free from harm or danger”.^[11] Corominas notes that it has been a common word at all periods, frequent in writing but less used in the most popular speech.^[3] Covarrubias in 1611 opposed libre to siervo and listed the uses “unmarried”, “without guilt”, “acquitted” and “outspoken”.^[12] The Autoridades gave “exempt, privileged” and “innocent”, and the Academy's later lists add “licentious” and “independent”.^[13][14] In Mexico un libre is a taxi.^[15] Through Spanish the word reached Tagalog, Cebuano and Chavacano.^[1]

Timeline

• 1200 – a charter in Oelschläger's list.^[3][4]
• 1208 – the Cortes of León use libres for “exempt” from a toll.^[10]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Libro conplido (the JUZ text) has seer libre “be free”.^[11][16]
• 1529 – the first record from the Americas, in Nicaragua: libre de su prisión.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias opposes libre to siervo.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology liber.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. free: able to act or not to act as one chooses.^[5][1]
2. Not a slave; not in prison.^[5][1]
3. Loose, not tied or held.^[5]
4. Exempt or excused: Quedó libre de la multa.^[5]
5. Independent, not under a higher authority.^[5]
6. Free of harm, danger or a burden; not containing something: un producto libre de gluten.^[5][1]
7. Unmarried, single.^[5][12]
8. Bold or licentious in speech or conduct.^[5]
9. Of a place or building: standing alone, with no adjoining house.^[5]
10. (grammar) Of a morpheme: able to stand alone.^[1]

Word family

• libremente
• librecambio
• librepensador

Related words

• liberar
• libérrimo
• libertad
• librar
• liberal
• liberto
• Latin līber
• Portuguese livre

Usage notes

Por libre means “on one's own, without following the usual ways”: ir por libre.^[5] The superlative is the learned libérrimo.^[1] The English word libre, in phrases such as vers libre, came from French, not from Spanish.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. libre
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 642
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. libre
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. libre
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2054
7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 226
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. libre
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. libre
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. libre
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1084
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 399
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 643
15. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (2001), Diccionario breve de mexicanismos, México: Academia Mexicana / Fondo de Cultura Económica, p. s.v. libre
16. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. libre
17. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. libre
18. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com