libertar

Forms

libertar (first-person singular present liberto, first-person singular preterite libertei, past participle libertado, short past participle liberto)^[1]

Etymology

Houaiss analyses it as from Portuguese liberto + -ar, from the adjective meaning “freed”, which is from Latin lībertus (“freedman”) and is recorded from the 14th century.^[2][3] The DLP, Priberam and Porto give the same analysis.^[4][5][6] Cunha instead takes the verb from Medieval Latin lībertō, formed on lībertās (“freedom”), and Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing of that Latin verb.^[7][1] Aurélio gives both explanations.^[7][1][8] The Medieval Latin verb was used for “to manumit, to set free” and “to give privileged status”.^[9]

The Latin noun is formed on līber (“free”) with the suffix -tās, and its old form was loebertās.^[1][10] Wiktionary takes the adjective back to *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is the participle libertado in a 15th-century historical text; the infinitive libertar is dated 1613.^[2] Cunha dates the verb to the 16th century.^[7] The early sense is legal and social: to give someone the status of a free person, to release from captivity.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Pereira's dictionary of 1697 renders the verb with Latin libero and phrases for claiming someone into freedom, and Bluteau explains it as “to put at liberty, to take out of captivity”, with the reflexive libertar-se.^[11][12] Morais in 1813 adds a figurative use, freeing someone from cares or labours.^[13] Vieira quotes a sermon of Friar Tomás da Veiga on Christ freeing souls from the captivity of sin.^[14]

The Brazilian dictionaries illustrate the main sense with the freeing of slaves: Aurélio cites the Golden Law (Lei Áurea) of 1888.^[8] Modern dictionaries add the release of a nation from foreign rule, of something held back (water, laughter), and, in physics and chemistry, the release of energy or a gas.^[2][4][5]

Timeline

• 15th century – the participle libertado.^[2]
• 16th century – Cunha's date for the verb.^[7]
• 1562–1575 – the noun libertação in a collection of sermons.^[15]
• 1572 – first record of libertador.^[16]
• 1613 – first record of the infinitive libertar.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira's dictionary lists libertar.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais records the figurative sense “to relieve of cares”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To free, to liberate: to release from prison, captivity or slavery, or from foreign rule.^[2][8][4][1]
2. (transitive) To relieve or rid of something that hinders or troubles; to release from an obligation or debt.^[2][4][5]
3. (transitive) To let out what was held back; to clear or unblock a passage (desobstruir).^[2][8][6]
4. (transitive) To give off, release (a gas, a smell, energy).^[2][5]
5. (reflexive) libertar-se: to free oneself, to escape; to win independence.^[2][8]

Word family

• libertação
• libertador

Related words

• liberto
• liberdade
• livre
• liberar
• Latin lībertās

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. libertar
3. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. liberto
4. ^ a b c d 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. libertar
5. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. libertar
6. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5672
7. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. libertar
8. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. libertar
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. libertare
10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lībertās
11. ^ a b c Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. libertar
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. libertar
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 221
14. ^ 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, 1309
15. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. libertação
16. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. libertador