Etymology

free

F4R1E1E1

Today it means: Unconstrained. Full definition →

Middle English fre ← Old English frēo ← Proto-West Germanic *friu
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free · adjective, adverb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*preyH-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*priHós
  3. Proto-Germanic*frijwaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*friu
  5. Old Englishfrēo
  6. Middle Englishfre
  7. English todayfree

From Middle English fre, from Old English frēo, frēoh, frī, friġ, frīoh (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please; to love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fri (“free”), Faroese fríur (“free”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (freis, “free”). Other cognates include Cornish rydh (“free”), Welsh rhydd (“free”), Latin propriō (“to appropriate”), Czech přát (“to wish; to favour”), Polish sprzyjać (“to favour, foster”), Serbo-Croatian прѝјати, prìjati (“to please, taste, suit; to be agreeable, relish”), Slovak priať (“to wish”), Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (friia, “good, pleasant”), Persian فری (fari, “beloved, dear; agreeable, pleasing”), Sanskrit प्रिय (priya, “beloved”). Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

free · verb2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*preyH-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*frijōną
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*frijōn
  4. Old English · inherited fromfrēon
  5. Middle English · inherited fromfreen
  6. English todayfree

From Middle English freen, freoȝen, from Old English frēon, frēoġan (“to free; make free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frijōn, from Proto-Germanic *frijōną, from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-, and is cognate with German freien, Dutch vrijen, Czech přát, Serbo-Croatian prijati, Polish sprzyjać.

Free · proper noun3

  1. Old English · derived fromfreo“freeborn”
  2. English todayFree

English surname, from Old English freo (“freeborn”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*priHós all →

frith

Proto-Germanic*frijōną all →

afraid

Proto-Indo-European*preyH- all →

friendfray

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.