libérer French · revision 16694

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1495 (liberez de)|origins=la līber}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /li.be.ʁe/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''libérer'''^(Wiktionary)

+ The Académie has written it with ''é'' since 1694; the stem vowel becomes ''è'' before a mute syllable: ''je libère'', ''je libérerai''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|līberō|t=to set free; to free (a slave); to release from a debt or obligation]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|5, 303a)^(Wiktionary) from [[m|la|līber|t=free]] (see [[libre]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The verb inherited from the same Latin word is [[livrer]], its doublet.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Jean de Vignay's ''Miroir historial'', in a print of 1495, has the past participle ''liberez de'' “exempt from, freed from”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a transitive verb it first meant “to set (a prisoner) free” (1541).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) It was then extended to freeing someone from what hinders (Lavardin, 1585) and, figuratively, to discharging a debt or servitude (Furetière, 1690).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Landais (1834) has it for sending a soldier home at the end of his service, whence “to release someone once his duties are over”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Rey dates “to free a country from foreign rule” to de Gaulle (1942), together with the new sense then taken by [[libération]].^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The Stock Exchange uses it for paying up shares (1867).^(BHVF)

+

+ [[libérateur]] (1500) replaced the older ''délivreur''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1398 – [[libération]] (''liberacion'').^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1495 – ''Liberez de'' “exempt from”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1500 – [[libérateur]].^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1541 – “To set (a prisoner) free”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1585 – “To free from a hindrance”, Lavardin.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – “To discharge (from a debt)”, Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1834 – “To discharge (a soldier)”, Landais.^(TLFi)

+ * 1942 – “To liberate (a country)”, de Gaulle.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|release]], set free (a prisoner, a hostage).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To free from what binds or hinders: ''libérer le passage''; to free (prices, trade).^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To [[m|en|liberate]] (a country, a people) from occupation or domination.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To release (someone) from an obligation or debt; to discharge (a soldier).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To vacate (premises): ''libérer une chambre''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # To give off, release (energy, a gas).^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Se libérer'': to free oneself; to make oneself available.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[libérable]]

+ * [[libératoire]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[libération]]

+ * [[liberté]]

+ * [[libre]]

+ * [[libérateur]]

+ * [[livrer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}