liberty English · revision 5869

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1375|origins=la libertas}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈlɪb.ə.ti/, US /ˈlɪb.ɚ.t̬i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English liberte, libertee, [[bor|fro|liberte|t=freedom, liberty, free will]] (modern French liberté),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) a learned borrowing of [[la|lībertās|t=civil or political freedom; the condition of a free man]] (accusative libertatem),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|līber|t=free]] (see [[liberal]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) Word Origins notes that [[libertine]], [[livery]] and [[deliver]] come from the same Latin adjective.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Free choice, freedom to do as one likes, and release from captivity or slavery: about 1375, in Chaucer, in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) c. 1386 in the OED for release from bondage.^(OED 1989) The religious sense, freedom from the bondage of sin, is in Wycliffe in 1382.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Used at first of persons, it was said of communities free from despotic rule by the late 15th century, 1484 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Privileges granted by a sovereign (14th century) led to the sense of an area where such privileges applied, a person's private land in the mid-15th century, and in the 18th century, in England and America, a district with its own justice of the peace or partly under a city's jurisdiction, as in the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia.^(Etymonline) Unrestrained conduct or speech is from the 1550s, which led to ''take liberties'', go beyond what is proper, in the 1620s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The nautical sense, leave of absence from a ship, is from 1758.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The American Revolutionary liberty pole is from 1775 and the liberty cap from 1803;^(Etymonline) the red cap of liberty worn in the French Revolution was the kind once given to Roman slaves when they were freed, according to Word Origins.^(Cresswell 2021) In Durham, Yorkshire and the south-west, liberty was used in dialect for leave or permission.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1375 – free choice, freedom, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1382 – freedom from the bondage of sin.^(OED 1989)

+ * 14th century – privileges by grant.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1484 – freedom from despotic rule.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1550s – unrestrained conduct.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1620s – ''take liberties''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1758 – shore leave for sailors.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1775 – liberty pole.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The condition of being [[free]] from control or restriction.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The right and power to act, think and speak as one chooses.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Freedom from [[captivity]], [[slavery]] or imprisonment.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Political freedom from arbitrary or [[despotic]] rule.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)

+ # ''(often plural)'' A remark or action that goes beyond what is proper: ''to take liberties''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(nautical)'' Short leave from a ship.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[liberty pole]]

+ * [[liberty loan]]

+ * [[civil liberty]]

+ * [[liberty bond]]

+ * [[liberty cap]]

+ * [[liberty ship]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[liberal]]

+ * [[liberalism]]

+ * [[liberate]]

+ * [[libertarian]]

+ * [[liberticide]]

+ * [[libertine]]

+ * [[livery]]

+ * [[deliver]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}