liberte

Forms

liberte f^[1]

• livreté^[1], liureteit^[2], liberteit^[2], libertey^[3], libertee, libertie^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lībertās (“freedom, the condition of a free person”).^[5][6][7] The noun is formed from Latin līber (“free”) + -tās, and continues Old Latin loebertās, from Proto-Italic *louðortāts.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, as liureteit, is a sermon on wisdom from the Walloon area, which the DEAF bibliography dates to the end of the 12th century and the TLFi to the early 13th.^[10][2] There it is free will: God gave the angels the freedom to choose the good of their own accord.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

From free will the word went on to rights: in the plural it named the immunities and franchises granted to a town, in a charter for Orgelet of 1266.^[2][11] In 1324 it is the condition of a man who has no master, and in the Lorraine Psalter of 1365 the state of one who is not a prisoner.^[2] About 1355 it is used for the highest degree of independence of a social group.^[2] In England the AND records it also for freedom from villeinage, for a privilege held by charter or prescription, and for a district under a town's jurisdiction.^[4] The modern word is French liberté.^[2]

Timeline

• 1185–1200 – liureteit in a Walloon sermon on wisdom (early 13th century by the TLFi).^[10][2]
• 1266 – libertés "franchises" in a charter for Orgelet.^[2][3]
• 1288 – libertey in a charter of Poligny.^[3]
• 1303 – first Anglo-Norman citation.^[4]
• 1324 – the condition of one who has no master.^[2]
• 1365 – liberteit in the Lorraine Psalter.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. free will.^[2][11][1]
2. freedom, the condition of one who has no master.^[2][4]
3. (in the plural) liberties, franchises, the privileges of a town.^[2][11][4]
4. (Anglo-Norman) a district under a town's jurisdiction.^[4]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word liberté, with the spellings libertee and libertie, and first cites it from 1303: physical freedom, freedom from the restrictions of naifty or villeinage, a privilege granted by prescription or charter, and a liberty, the district over which a town's jurisdiction extends.^[4] Middle English liberte is from the Old French word,^[12] and the English word liberty is dated to the late 14th century.^[13]

Descendants

• Middle French liberté (→ French liberté)^[14][2]
• Middle English liberte (borrowed; → English liberty)^[12][13]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy's supplement, the AND and the DMF all head the word liberté.^{[1][3][4][14]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 5:396
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
3. ^ a b c d 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. 10:78
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. liberté
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5:304
6. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1926–1928), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 591
7. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. libertas
10. ^ 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. SermSapF
11. ^ a b c Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. liberté
12. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. liberté