lōferta

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: `free, free man', opposed to δοῦλος `slave' (Il.).

Dialectal forms: Myc. ereutero \/ eleutheros\/.

Compounds: rarely as 1. member, e. g. ἐλευθερό-στομος `with free mouth' (A.); as 2. member a. o. in ἀπ-ελεύθερος `freedman' (Att.), mostly taken as postverbal to ἀπ-ελευθερόω `make free, make freedman' (Pl., Arist.), Schwyzer 421, Strömberg Greek Prefix Studies 39f. m. Lit.

Derivatives: ἐλευθερία `freedom' (Pi.) with ἐλευθεριωτικός `proclaiming freedom' (Him.); denomin. verbs: ἐλευθερόω `make free' (Ion.-Att.) with ἐλευθέρ-ωσις, - ωμα, - ωτής; ἐλευθερεσθείς (Thess., Schwyzer 736 w. lit.); ἐλευθέριος `as a free man' (Ion.-Att.), also as surname of Zeus (Pi., Hdt., because of the victory on the Persians) with Έλευθεριών month name (Halikarnassos); ἐλευθεριότης `frankness, liberality' (Pl.) and the denomin. ἐλευθεριάζω `speak and act as a free man' (Pl.); ἐλευθερικός `belonging to a free man' (Pl. Lg. 701e beside δεσποτικός; 919e beside the bahuvrihi ἀν-ελεύθερος; cf. Chantraine Études sur le vocab. gr. 146). Cret. ἐλούθερος with sec. voalism (Schwyzer 194)..

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [684] * h₁leudʰ- `grow up, come up; free'

Etymology: Old adjective, also in: Lat. līber, - era, also as gods name = Venet. Louzera, Pelign. loufir, Osc. (Iúveis) Lúvfreis = ( Iovis) Līberī; cf. Falisc. lōferta = līberta, OLat. loebertāt-em = Falisk. loifirtat-o; uncertain Toch. A lyutāri `the upper (men), overseer?' (Duchesne-Guillemin BSL 41, 181). - One starts from an old word for `people', which is found elsewhere, in Germanic and Balto-Slavic: OHG liut `people', pl. liuti `people', OE lēod `people', Lith. liáudis `lower people', Csl., Russ. ljudъ `people', OCS ljúdьje, Russ. ljúdi pl. `men, people'; IE * h₁leudh-o-, -i-; from there also Burgund. leudis `a free man', OCS ORuss. ljudinъ `free man'; ἐλεύθερος, līber (\< IE * h₁leudh-ero-s), so prop. `belonging to the people', as opposed to the subjected peoples. - Against Altheims idea (s. W.-Hofmann s. 3. Līber), the Ital. Līber came through Oscan from the Greeks (: Ζεὺς Έλευθέριος, Διόνυσος Έλευθερεύς; s. above), see v. Wilamowitz Glaube 2, 334 n. 2, also Pisani Ist. Lomb. 89 (1956) 17f., who points to Venet. Louzera, which shows that the god was original in Italy (see Krahe Das Venetische 24). - Rich litt. in W.-Hofmann s. 2. līber, 3. Līber and līberī, Fraenkel Lit. et. Wb. s. liáudis, Vasmer Russ. et. Wb. s. ljúd. - See also ἐλεύσομαι. The laryngeal is seen in Skt. vī-rudh- `plant', anū-rudh- (Mayrh. EWAia 2, 467ff.) - Of forein origin but perh. reshaped after ἐλεύθερος and with oppositive accent the PlaceN Έλευθεραί, from which Έλευθερεύς as surname of Dionysos; cf. on Εἰλείθυια and Έλευίς. - On the meaning Benveniste, Institutions 1. 321ff.

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