Etymologically
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libre

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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)