liberal

Forms

liberal (feminine liberale)^[1]

• libereau, lyberal^[2][3]

The plural is liberaus, later liberaulx and liberaux.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin līberālis (“befitting a free man”),^[1][6][7] from līber (“free”) and the suffix -ālis.^[8] The DHLF notes that the Latin adjective, like ingenuus and generōsus, passed from “concerning a free man” to “worthy of a free man”, that is “kind, generous”.^[9] The Old French name of the liberal arts renders artēs līberālēs.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie, of about 1174, where the word means “generous, giving freely”.^[5][6][11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “befitting a free man” appears in the Liège translation of Gregory's Dialogues, which the TLFi dates to about 1200, in liberaz estuides de lettres for the studies of a freeborn boy.^[6][12] The seven liberal arts are named so from about 1210,^[10] and a Mappemonde explains that they are called liberal because they free a person from ills.^[13] Tobler–Lommatzsch also records the senses “free”, “noble, high-minded” and “generous”.^[12]

In documents the word meant free of taxes, or free rather than serf, and liberal volenté was free will, from 1285.^[2] Generosity, the first sense, survives but has given way to French généreux.^[9] The political sense of modern French libéral is dated 1750.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1174 – liberal “generous” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie.^[5][11][6]
• c. 1200 – “befitting a free man” in the Dialogues of Gregory.^[6][12]
• c. 1210 – arts liberaus “liberal arts”.^[10]
• 1212 – first citation in the AND.^[14]
• c. 1248 – liberaus in the Image du monde.^[15]
• 1285 – libereau volumté “free will”.^[2]
• 1750 – the political sense of French libéral.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. generous, open-handed.^[5][14][16]
2. befitting a free man, noble.^[12][6]
3. of the arts, liberal.^[14][5]
4. free; of the will, free.^[14][2]
5. high-minded, magnanimous.^[16]

Noun

1. (Anglo-Norman) a free man.^[14]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites the word from 1212, with the senses “free”, “free (of the will)”, “generous” and “suitable for a free man” of the arts, and as a noun “a free man”.^[14] Etymonline dates English liberal “generous” to the middle of the 14th century, from the Old French word and directly from Latin.^[17]

Word family

• liberalement
• liberalité

Descendants

• Middle French liberal (→ French libéral)^[18][6]
• Middle English liberal (borrowed; → English liberal)^[17][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5:300
3. ^ RIALFrI: Repertorio Informatizzato dell'Antica Letteratura Franco-Italiana, Lessico (word-form index of the Franco-Italian texts), rialfri.eu
4. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
5. ^ a b c d e Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. liberal
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
7. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 603
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. līberālis
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. libéral
10. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 407
11. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. BenDucF
12. ^ a b c d Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 5:394
13. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 4:771
14. ^ a b c d e f Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. liberal
15. ^ Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. ImMondeOct3M
16. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 5:395
17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. liberal