libre French · revision 17307

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200, Moralités sur Job (liure)|origins=la līber}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /libʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''libre''' (plural libres)^(Wiktionary)

+ First written ''livre'' or ''liure'' (about 1200); ''libre'' appears in the 14th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|līber|t=free; not a slave]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|5, 298a) Wiktionary calls the Old French “livre” a semi-learned form, and traces the Latin word through [[itc-ola|loeber]] and [[itc-pro|*louðeros]] to [[ine-pro|*h₁lewdʰ-|t=people]].^(Wiktionary) Rey compares [[grc|ἐλεύθερος|tr=eleútheros|t=free]] and, less certainly, words for “people” in Old High German, Latvian and Old Church Slavonic.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[ca|lliure]], [[es|libre]], [[pt|livre]] and [[it|libero]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In its first record, the ''Moralités sur Job'' of about 1200, ''liure'' describes one who depends on himself and is subject to no authority; from 1339 it means “not belonging to a master”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word's range widened greatly in the 16th century: “not hindered” (1538), ''libre de'' “free from” (1558), “not a prisoner” (1552), the philosophical sense of having free will (Calvin, 1541), and, in politics, of a territory (1564) and of a person not hampered by the authorities (Montaigne, about 1580).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(BHVF) It was applied to things done without constraint: ''vers libres'' (1549), ''air libre'' (1559), ''libre accès'' (1681).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In the 17th century it took the pejorative sense “too free, licentious” (1636) and the sense “unoccupied, not engaged”, whence ''être libre'' “to be unmarried” (1690).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Libre penseur'' (1659) imitates English ''free thinker'' and ''libre-échange'' (1840) English ''free trade''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In the 19th century ''enseignement libre'' came to mean schooling independent of the State (1864); in the cold war ''le monde libre'' was the non-communist world (1953).^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – ''Liure'', in the ''Moralités sur Job''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1339 – “Not belonging to a master”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1541 – Free will, in Calvin.^(BHVF)

+ * 1549 – ''Vers libres'', Du Bellay.^(TLFi)

+ * 1552 – “Not a prisoner”, Ronsard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1659 – ''Libre penseur''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1690 – ''Être libre'' “to be unmarried”, Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1840 – ''Libre-échange''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1864 – ''Enseignement libre''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|free]]: not a slave or a prisoner; not subject to a master.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # (of a state or people) Independent, [[m|en|sovereign]]: ''une nation libre''.^(Larousse)

+ # Having the power to act or decide as one wishes: ''libre de partir'', ''libre à vous de''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # Not engaged or occupied; [[m|en|vacant]], available: ''êtes-vous libre ce soir?'', ''une place libre''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Not subject to rules or controls: ''vers libre'', ''entrée libre'', ''presse libre''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # Free and easy in manner; too free, [[m|en|licentious]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(sports)'' Freestyle: ''nage libre''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Christian schools)'' ''École libre'': a private school, independent of the State.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[libre-échange]]

+ * [[libre-service]]

+ * [[libertaire]]

+ * [[libre-échangiste]]

+ * [[libre-penseur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[liberté]]

+ * [[librement]]

+ * [[livrer]]

+ * [[la|līber]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}