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libre

Etymology and origin of the French word libre

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1200, Moralités sur Job (liure)
Borrowed from
Latin liber
Ultimate origin
Latin (līber)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin liber
French libre
French livre
Latin libere
Latin liberalis
English liberal
Latin libertas
French liberté

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /libʁ/[1]

Forms

libre (plural libres)[1] First written livre or liure (about 1200); libre appears in the 14th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin līber (“free; not a slave”).[4][2][5][6] Wiktionary calls the Old French “livre” a semi-learned form, and traces the Latin word through Old Latin loeber and Proto-Italic *louðeros to Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).[1] Rey compares Ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros, “free”) and, less certainly, words for “people” in Old High German, Latvian and Old Church Slavonic.[2]

Cognate with Catalan lliure, Spanish libre, Portuguese livre and Italian libero.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first record, the Moralités sur Job of about 1200, liure describes one who depends on himself and is subject to no authority; from 1339 it means “not belonging to a master”.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word's range widened greatly in the 16th century: “not hindered” (1538), libre de “free from” (1558), “not a prisoner” (1552), the philosophical sense of having free will (Calvin, 1541), and, in politics, of a territory (1564) and of a person not hampered by the authorities (Montaigne, about 1580).[2][4][8] It was applied to things done without constraint: vers libres (1549), air libre (1559), libre accès (1681).[4][2]

In the 17th century it took the pejorative sense “too free, licentious” (1636) and the sense “unoccupied, not engaged”, whence être libre “to be unmarried” (1690).[4][2] Libre penseur (1659) imitates English free thinker and libre-échange (1840) English free trade.[2][5] In the 19th century enseignement libre came to mean schooling independent of the State (1864); in the cold war le monde libre was the non-communist world (1953).[4][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – Liure, in the Moralités sur Job.[4]
  • 1339 – “Not belonging to a master”.[2][5]
  • 1541 – Free will, in Calvin.[8]
  • 1549 – Vers libres, Du Bellay.[4]
  • 1552 – “Not a prisoner”, Ronsard.[4]
  • 1659 – Libre penseur.[5]
  • 1690 – Être libre “to be unmarried”, Furetière.[4]
  • 1840 – Libre-échange.[5]
  • 1864 – Enseignement libre.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. free: not a slave or a prisoner; not subject to a master.[9][10]
  2. (of a state or people) Independent, sovereign: une nation libre.[10]
  3. Having the power to act or decide as one wishes: libre de partir, libre à vous de.[9][11]
  4. Not engaged or occupied; vacant, available: êtes-vous libre ce soir?, une place libre.[1][9]
  5. Not subject to rules or controls: vers libre, entrée libre, presse libre.[10][4]
  6. Free and easy in manner; too free, licentious.[4][2]
  7. (sports) Freestyle: nage libre.[1]
  8. (Christian schools) École libre: a private school, independent of the State.[4]

Word family

  • libre-échange
  • libre-service
  • libertaire
  • libre-échangiste
  • libre-penseur

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 298a
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Libre.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/libre. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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