liberto Italian · revision 39263

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1292, Bono Giamboni|origins=la līber}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /liˈbɛr.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''liberto''' ''m'' (plural liberti, feminine liberta)^(Wiktionary)

+ The feminine is ''liberta'', recorded from the 16th century.^(DEI|2222)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned borrowing, [[bor|la|lībertus|t=freedman]], from [[m|la|līber|t=free]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) DEI suggests the Latin word was formed on [[m|la|lībertās|t=freedom]], and Devoto explains it as a cross between that noun and [[m|la|līberātus|t=freed]].^(DEI|2222)^(Devoto 1968) Wiktionary reconstructs [[itc-pro|*louðertos]] and [[ine-pro|*h₁léwdʰeros]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*h₁lewdʰ-|t=to grow; people]].^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[es|liberto]] and [[ca|llibert|t=free]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2222)^(REW 1935)

+

+ The Latin derivative [[m|la|lībertīnus]] first meant “of a freedman; son of a freedman”, the source of [[libertino]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO records the word in an Old Italian version of Albertano (1275, Florence), in a reconstructed form, and in Bono Giamboni's translation of Orosius, before 1292, always of a freed slave in ancient Rome.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999) Giamboni writes of Menas, a freedman of Pompey, who fled to Caesar with sixty ships.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word has kept its single historical sense.^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) Boccaccio explained that ''libertini'' were the sons of a slave set free by his master and that the freed slaves themselves were called ''liberti''.^(GDLI) The Tommaseo–Bellini dictionary also records an extended use for freed black slaves or their children.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The derivative [[libertino]] took a different path: from the 16th century French [[m|fr|libertin]] was used of an anti-Calvinist movement named after the Libertines of the Acts of the Apostles, and, from it Italian took the sense “dissolute”, recorded in 1684; [[libertinaggio]] (1685) follows French [[m|fr|libertinage]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1275 – A reconstructed form appears in an Old Italian version of Albertano.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it in his translation of Orosius.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1342 – Cavalca uses ''libertino'' in the sense “freedman”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 16th century – The feminine ''liberta'' is recorded.^(DEI|2222)

+ * 1684 – ''Libertino'' “dissolute” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(history)'' A [[m|en|freedman]]: in ancient Rome, a slave who had been set free, who kept limited legal rights and duties of respect and service toward his former master: ''Molti liberti divennero ricchi mercanti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[libertino]]

+ * [[libertinaggio]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[libero]]

+ * [[libertà]]

+ * [[la|lībertus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}