Etymology
1. O.E.
freo "free, exempt from, not in bondage," also "noble, joyful," from P.Gmc.
*frijaz (cf. M.H.G.
vri, Ger.
frei, Du.
vrij, Goth.
freis "free"), from PIE
*prijos "dear, beloved" (cf. Skt.
priyah "own, dear, beloved,"
priyate "loves;" O.C.S.
prijati "to help,"
prijatelji "friend;" Welsh
rhydd "free"). The adv. is from O.E.
freon, freogan "to free, love." The primary sense seems to have been "beloved, friend, to love;" which in some languages (notably Gmc. and Celtic) developed also a sense of "free," perhaps from the terms "beloved" or "friend" being applied to the free members of one's clan (as opposed to slaves, cf. L.
liberi, meaning both "free" and "children"). Cf. Goth.
frijon "to love;" O.E.
freod "affection, friendship,"
friga "love,"
friðu "peace;" O.N.
friðr, Ger.
Friede "peace;" O.E.
freo "wife;" O.N.
Frigg "wife of Odin," lit. "beloved" or "loving;" M.L.G.
vrien "to take to wife, Du.
vrijen, Ger.
freien "to woo." Sense of "given without cost" is 1585, from notion of "free of cost." Of nations, "not subject to foreign rule or to despotism," it is recorded from 1375.
Freedman "manumitted slave" first recorded 1601. Colloquial
freeloader first recorded 1930s;
free fall is from 1919, originally of parachutists;
free-hand is from 1862;
free-thinker is from 1692.
Freebie dates back to 1942 as
freeby, perhaps as early as 1900.
Free-for-all "mass brawl" (in which anyone may participate) first recorded 1881.
Freebase (n. and v.) in ref. to cocaine first recorded 1980.
2. 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. See: Proto-Germanic '
*frijōną', German, old spelling '
freien', Dutch '
vrijen', Czech '
přát', Serbo-Croatian '
prijati', Polish '
sprzyjać'.
Verbs referencing "free"
Sranan
fri, Sanskrit
प्रीणाति.