liberdade

Forms

liberdade f (plural liberdades)^[1] A document of 1328 writes libertades, and a notarial book of Noia has livertades in 1493.^[2] Houaiss records lyberdade in the 15th century, and the old words livridom and livridõoe of the same century.^[3] Feijó (1734) gives liberdade as the correct form, against libardade.^[4] A dialect form libradade was recorded in Portugal in 1970.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lībertās (“freedom, the condition of a free person”), a learned word already in use in the oldest Galician-Portuguese documents as Old Galician-Portuguese liberdade.^[3][1][6] Houaiss's first date is 1338.^[3][2] R. Lorenzo's chronology has the spelling Old Galician-Portuguese libertades in 1328.^[3][2]

The same Latin word is Galician liberdade and French liberté.^[1] In Latin it is formed from līber (“free”) with the suffix -tās, and Old Latin wrote loebertās.^[7][1]

De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Italic *leuþ-ero-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁leudʰ-ero-.^[8] It is related to Ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros, “free”) and to German Leute (“people”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are plural and legal: a document of 1328 lists usos libertades et donadios “customs, liberties and grants”, one of 1338 mercees estremadas e liberdades “special favours and liberties”, and the Crónica Geral tells of a king who “gave him very great franchises and liberties”.^[2] In these texts the word means the privileges or exemptions granted to a person or a place.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Notarial books of the 15th century still use the plural for prerogatives and privileges.^[2] Barbosa (1611) has pôr em liberdade “to set free”.^[9] Bluteau (1712–1728) opens his article with the freedom of the will, the power God gave man to keep or break His law, and also describes the Roman goddess Liberty.^[10] Morais (1789) lists the faculty of doing or not doing as one wishes, the political freedom of a nation that acknowledges no superior, the manumission of a slave, the release of a prisoner, and falar com liberdade “to speak frankly”.^[11] Vieira adds a chemical use: a body set em liberdade is separated from a compound.^[12]

The original Caldas Aulete records the personified Liberty of liberal ideas, as in a estátua da Liberdade.^[13] Modern dictionaries centre on civil and political freedoms, with phrases such as liberdade de imprensa and liberdade de pensamento.^[14][3]

Timeline

• 1328 – libertades in a document.^[2]
• 1338 – liberdades in a document, Houaiss's first date.^[3][2]
• c. 1391–1450 – used in copies of the Horto do Esposo.^[15]
• 1476 – the plural liberdades “privileges” in a notarial book of Noia.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin libertas.^[16]
• 1611 – Barbosa records pôr em liberdade.^[9]
• 1734 – Feijó prescribes liberdade, not libardade.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais defines the political and personal senses.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. freedom, liberty: the power to decide and act according to one's own will.^[14][17][1]
2. The power to act within the limits set by law; each of the rights the citizen holds against the State: liberdade de imprensa, liberdade de expressão.^[3][14]
3. The condition of a free person, not a slave or a prisoner: Os presos foram postos em liberdade.^[17][13]
4. The independence (independência) of a people or nation.^[3][13]
5. The absence of illegitimate or abnormal oppression (opressão).^[14][13]
6. Permission, leave (licença): ter liberdade de sair.^[13][18]
7. Familiarity, sometimes excessive;^[13] (in the plural) liberties taken with someone.^[13]
8. Frankness in speech.^[13][11]

Related words

• livre
• liberto
• libertar
• liberal
• Latin lībertās

Usage notes

As a proper name, Liberdade is a district of São Paulo and a municipality of Minas Gerais.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. liberdade
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. liberdade
4. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liberdade
5. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. liberdade
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. liberdade
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lībertās
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. līber
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liberdade
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liberdade
11. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 20
12. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 1308
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. liberdade
14. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. liberdade
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. liberdade
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liberdade
17. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. liberdade
18. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. liberdade