livre

Forms

livre m or f (plural livres)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote livre, liure and libre; the 15th century also has lyvres.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin līber (“free”), written Old Galician-Portuguese livre and Old Galician-Portuguese libre in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Its final -e, where the Latin accusative līberum would not lead one to expect it, has been explained in two ways.^[5][6] Corominas rejects Baist's idea of an early borrowing from French, since in French the word is late and rare in the Middle Ages, and treats the Spanish and Portuguese word as semi-learned, its ending adapted from the Latin nominative.^[5] Nascentes instead explains it as a change of declension class under the influence of adjectives of the type acer, acris, acre.^[6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician libre, Spanish libre, Catalan lliure, Occitan liure, French libre and Italian libero.^[8][1][5]

Old Latin had loeber, which shows the old diphthong /oi/.^[9][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *leuþ-ero- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁leudʰ-ero-, and compares Ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros, “free”) and words for “people”, such as Old High German liut.^[9] Wiktionary derives it from *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”), the root also of German Leute and Russian люди (ljúdi, “people”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word for freedom from captivity or evil: do poder do demo ficamos livres “we became free of the devil's power”, per ela somos livres de mal “through her we are free from evil”, and livr'e são “safe and sound”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word already meant not subject to a lord, as well as safe from harm.^[3][4] Bluteau distinguishes the man who is not constrained, the one who is not a slave, the one who is master of his own actions, the freeborn (livre de geração) and the exempt.^[10] Morais (1789) adds “safe from danger”, “exempt from dues”, “acquitted” and “outspoken”.^[11]

Houaiss dates to 1881 the sense “moving without hindrance”.^[2] Later senses include “unoccupied, available”, “free of charge”, “not in a relationship”, “licentious” and, in linguistics, a free form.^[2] In Portugal the noun livre is a free kick.^[12] The word passed into Guinea-Bissau Creole as livri and libri.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – livres in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[4][3]
• 15th century – the spelling lyvres.^[2]
• 1567 – a private letter spells it llivre.^[13]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists the senses “unconstrained”, “not a slave” and “exempt”.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais adds “acquitted” and “outspoken”.^[11]
• 1881 – first record of the sense “moving without hindrance”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. free: master of oneself and one's actions, having the power to choose.^[2][12][1]
2. Not under another's yoke; not a slave; not in captivity (of animals).^[2]
3. Released, acquitted: saiu livre do tribunal.^[2][12]
4. Having civil and political rights; independent (of a nation).^[2]
5. Not subject to restrictions or control: imprensa livre.^[2]
6. Moving without hindrance; loose: com as mãos livres.^[2]
7. Open, unobstructed; available, not occupied: a sala está livre.^[2][14]
8. Not busy; with no obligations: tempo livre.^[2]
9. Not in a romantic relationship.^[2]
10. Free from (a worry, a pain, a tax): livre de dívidas.^[2]
11. Costing nothing to enter, free of charge.^[2][1]
12. Spontaneous, natural; also unrestrained, licentious.^[2]
13. Not of a fixed form; not literal: verso livre, tradução livre.^[2]
14. (phonetics) Open (of a syllable or vowel); not fixed (of stress).^[2]
15. (linguistics) Able to stand alone as an utterance (of a form).^[2]

Noun

1. (Portugal, sport) A free kick.^[12]

Adverb

1. Freely, at will.^[2][12]

Word family

• livremente

Related words

• livrar
• liberar
• liberdade
• libertar
• liberal
• Spanish libre

Usage notes

Livre is also the present subjunctive of livrar.^[15]

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 j k l m n o p q r s t u v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. livre
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. livre
4. ^ a b c d 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. livre
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 642
6. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. livre
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 1, 302
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5012
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. livre
11. ^ a b 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, 10
12. ^ a b c d e 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. livre
13. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. livre
14. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. livre
15. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. livre