elibera

Forms

elibera (present eliberez, third person eliberează, past participle eliberat), first conjugation.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēlīberō (“to set free”), a learned borrowing,^{[3][4][5][6][2][1]} from līberō (“to free”).^[1] Ciorănescu dates it to the 19th century.^[3] It stood beside the older libera, with which it long competed.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Codrescu, with the sense “set free from slavery”: „Eu emancipez şi eliberez pe sclavul meu David” “I emancipate and free my slave David”.^[4][6] The DLR dates a reflexive use to about 1850, in a text printed in the Uricariul: a prisoner sent to Constantinople freed himself through the Russian envoy.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is freeing a person from slavery, captivity or prison; from it came the freeing of peoples and countries from foreign rule, as in a calendar of 1858 on the crusades that set out to free the Holy Sepulchre.^[6][2] In the army it meant discharging a soldier, and reflexively being discharged, a use now dated.^[2][7] Administrative language uses it for issuing a document on request, already the only sense in Șăineanu's dictionary of 1929, and for releasing goods against payment.^[2][8] Newer senses are dismissing someone from a post, vacating a room or a plot, and, in chemistry, the release of an atom from a molecule.^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1850 – a reflexive use in a text printed in the Uricariul.^[6]
• 1852 – elibera in a calendar, and Tiktin's first record.^[6][5]
• 1858 – a elibera Sântul Mormânt “to free the Holy Sepulchre” in a calendar.^[6]
• 1862 – Pontbriant's dictionary glosses it “to deliver, set free”.^[9]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives only the sense “to issue, hand over (a certificate)”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To set free, liberate; to free from national, political or social oppression; reflexive, to free oneself.^[2][4][1]
2. (dated, of soldiers) To discharge from military service; reflexive, to be discharged.^[2][4]
3. (of atoms, reflexive) To be released from a molecule.^[2][7]
4. To dismiss from a post.^[2][7]
5. To issue a document on request: Primăria eliberează certificatul în trei zile.; to release goods against payment.^[2][4][1]
6. To vacate a room or a plot of land.^[2][1]

Word family

• eliberator
• eliberare

Related words

• liber
• libera
• Latin līberō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 349
3. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. elibera
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 801
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. elibera
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. elibera
7. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. elibera
8. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 229
9. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 238