The surprising derivation of the word "free"

In English the word "free" is fraught with ambiguous meaning, which is why the open source world has to make the distinction between free as in speech vs. free as in beer. In Romance languages, such as Spanish, French or Italian, the twin meanings munged into the English word "free" are split between two words, one derived from the Latin "liber" (freedom) and the other from the Latin "gratis" (contraction of gratiis "for thanks," hence, "without recompense”, or zero price).

In these languages, "libre" is usually an alloyed good, while "gratis" is often considered a marketing gimmick.In English, marketers take advantage of the ambiguity to use the positive connotations of freedom to help past suspicions over the truth of the pricing meaning.

But that still leaves the question: what's the derivation of the English word "free"?It's actually fascinating: "free" comes from the same Old English root as "friend".

The path is this:

[They both come] from the Old English 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).

The sense of "given without cost" is from 1585, from notion of "free of cost."

[A fun example of freedom and free combined is in the poster shown above, which Larry Lessig found at an open source conference. The Free Beer this refers to is a recipe that is free to all. But if you want the version someone has already made, you've got to pay for it. This is another example of the time/money business model of free.]

Comments

[Anthony]

The same argument applies to freeware software vs. Open source software, which is free most of the time but also gives one the freedom to change it to suit them, and redistribute the software WHILE those changes persist.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

[Josh]

Are you sure it's not a joke?, an Asian might say "three beers" as "free beer"

[Crosbie Fitch]

There is also a subtle abuse of 'free' as in 'unconstrained even by a superior right'.

If freedom is good, and freedom is to be without constraint, then it could only be for the good that I should be unconstrained in my pursuit of X.

"I should be free to swim in your pool, use your car, eat your food, smack my child, shoot trespassers, etc."

Free software would be more ethically couched in terms of 'Liberty unconstrained by the commercial privileges of copyright and patent'.

Free software = software unencumbered by commercial privilege.

Free software liberates people who purchase it (as far as is possible), from the privileges of copyright and patent that would otherwise constrain them. It should permit them no privilege or additional power over their fellow men.

[MrStol]

I enjoy using "Extra gratis", it might even be a legal term in the Dutch and German dictionaries already.

[faizal kamal]

hai /. . .
thanks for that info...
nice info

[CoAl]

Hey Chris,

I fear it's "liber", not "libre".

Then, "liber" should come from "libens", more or less "happy & willing" (the same "libido" derives from, funny huh?).

I am soooo sure this will help!!!

[Chris Anderson]

@CoAl: Thanks for the catch! Fixed...