libera

Forms

libera (third-person singular present liberează, past participle liberat) 1st conjugation^[1] A popular form libăra is recorded, and a folk verse has the noun livirare: „Iară acum la livirare, Sunt moșneag cu barba mare” “and now at my discharge I am an old man with a long beard”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French libérer, with Latin līberō (“to set free”) as a second model in DEX and Marcu's MDN.^[5][6] Marcu and Maneca add Italian liberare, and MDA2 names Latin, Italian and French.^[7][4] Wiktionary gives French alone, and the DA calls it a loan after French, comparing Latin.^[1][2] The DLR refers it to the adjective liber.^[3]

The French verb was borrowed around 1495 from the Latin one, a derivative of līber (“free”).^[8][1] The Latin verb first meant to give a slave free status.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is a poem by Heliade Rădulescu, where the Romanian armies „liberară țara” “freed the country”.^[4][3] In 1848 Negulici's dictionary of neologisms has liberare “to rid (oneself) of a debt or a burden”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the verb was used of slaves, serfs and captives set free, of countries freed from foreign rule, and of a debtor released from a debt.^[3][5] Ciaușanu's regional glossary and later writers have it for a soldier sent home after his service, the sense that survives in popular speech: m-am liberat “I've done my service”.^[2][11][5] In French the sense “to send a soldier home” is recorded from 1834.^[8] Another use, “to issue (a document, a receipt)”, which Șăineanu recorded and the DA called improper, survives in MDA2.^[12][2][4]

In the sense “to free” the verb has given way to elibera, and DEX marks it as dated.^[5][11]

Timeline

• 1848 – liberare in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1857 – a se libera de jugul naturei “to free oneself from the yoke of nature” in Vocea Oltului.^[3]
• 1869 – the freeing of Romanian captives held by the Turks, in a document of the Uricariul.^[3]
• 1875 – Antonescu's dictionary glosses it with French délivrer.^[13]
• 1931 – CADE has the military sense, a soldier going home after his service.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (popular, transitive and reflexive) To discharge a soldier after his military service, or to be discharged and go home: S-a liberat din armată anul trecut.^[5][4][1]
2. (dated, transitive) To liberate a country or a people, to set a captive free.^[5][4]
3. (law) To release a debtor from a debt.^[5]
4. (rare) To issue a document or a receipt.^[4][12]

Word family

• liberare
• liberator

Related words

• elibera
• liber

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. libera
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. libera
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1358
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 589
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. libera
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. libera
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. libérer
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. liberare
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 753
12. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 363
13. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 164
14. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. libera