liber

See also: Liber, libër, li ber, and Liber.

English

Etymology

From Latin liber (“the inner bark of a tree”). See libel.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪbə(ɹ)/

Noun

liber (countable and uncountable, plural libers)

(botany) The inner bark of plants, next to the wood. It usually contains a large proportion of woody, fibrous cells, and is the part from which the fibre of the plant is obtained, as that of hemp, etc.
A book of public records.
- 1857, Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, page 21:
  First. That they will make, compile, collate, prepare, correct and copy complete in every respect for printing two sets of original Index Books, one of grantors, and one of grantees, each of which shall contain the names of grantors and grantees respectively, together with the dates of the instruments, the time when recorded and the title and page where recorded of all instruments, deeds, leases or other writings recorded in the libers of conveyances in the said register’s office, at the date of this contract, in consideration of the sum of thirty-two dollars for each volume of conveyances so indexed.
- 1891, Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, One Hundred and Fourteenth Session, 1891, volume IX, number 80, part V, Albany: James B. Lyon, page 123:
  The libers of wills above mentioned are estimated to contain 600 pages, which would make the average cost, per liber, $636.
- 1919, Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen, page 21:
  […] the proceeds whereof to be used for the purpose of relabeling, rebinding and resewing libers in my office, all obligations to be incurred on or before December 31, 1918, which resolution was adopted by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on August 9, 1918.
- 1935, Annual Report of the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia to the President of the United States, page 8:
  The libers containing this record have not been written in duplicate, but are contained in single consecutive liber form and are 2,865 in number. While there is a constant wear on these records, which necessitates untiring supervision, recopying, and repair, there were at the beginning of our project some 470 libers in an unserviceable condition, due to the deterioration of the parchment on which they are written, […].
- (Can we date this quote?)Records & Briefs, page 382:
  You will also notice that on the last three full pages and page 37 which contains ten, there is not a single market or a single D recorded, the reason for that being that the libers which were included were agreed upon by Dr. Deming and myself, upon an examination of the libers in question in the County Clerk’s Office, and some instruments are dated within the period but recorded sometime later. The usual recording time we found to be anywhere from two to four or five days.
- 1953, University of Iowa Studies: Series on Aims and Progress of Research, page 621:
  Among the records most useful for this study were the sixteen folio libers of Provincial Court Judgments pertaining to the period here covered, the Anne Arundel County Judgments, the Court Proceedings of Baltimore County, […].
- 1999, Christina K. Schaefer, The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy, page 137:
  […] with references taken from county land and probate records, Maryland inventories, administration accounts, will books, patent libers, etc.;

Related terms

libro-

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for liber in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Anagrams

Erbil, birle, libre

Czech

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlɪbɛr/

Noun

liber

genitive plural of libra

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlɪbɛr/

Noun

liber

genitive plural of libero

French

Etymology

From Latin liber (“book; the inner bark of a tree”). Doublet of livre.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /li.bɛʁ/
Audio (file)

Noun

liber m (plural libers)

bast (of a tree)
book

Related terms

librairie
libro-
livro-

Anagrams

libre

Latin

Etymology 1

From Old Latin loeber, from Proto-Italic *louðeros, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁léwdʰeros, from *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).

Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐλεύθερος (eleútheros), Sanskrit रोधति (ródhati), Dutch lieden, German Leute, Russian лю́ди (ljúdi, “people”).

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.ber/, [ˈlʲiːbɛr]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ber/, [ˈliːber]
Audio (Classical) (file)

Adjective

līber (feminine lībera, neuter līberum, comparative līberior, superlative līberrimus, adverb līberē); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

free, independent, unrestricted, unchecked
Synonyms: solūtus, expers, immūnis
- 65 CE, Lucius Anneus Seneca Minor, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium Epistula XCII:
  Nēmō līber est quī corporī servit.
  No one is free who is a slave to his body.
- Titus Maccius Plautus, Captivi Act III, scene IV:
  Haud istūc rogō. Fuistin līber? — Fuī.
  That isn’t what I’m asking about. Were you a freeman? — I was.
open (not decided or settled)
unbiased (pertains to lawyers)
exempt, void

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Number	Singular			Plural
Nominative	līber	lībera	līberum	līberī	līberae	lībera
Genitive	līberī	līberae	līberī	līberōrum	līberārum	līberōrum
Dative	līberō	līberae	līberō	līberīs
Accusative	līberum	līberam	līberum	līberōs	līberās	lībera
Ablative	līberō	līberā	līberō	līberīs
Vocative	līber	lībera	līberum	līberī	līberae	lībera

Genitive plural sometimes līberum

Derived terms

līberālis
līberālitās
līberāliter
līberātiō
līberātor
līberē
līberī
līberō
līberta
lībertās
lībertīnus
lībertus

Descendants

Albanian: lirë (disputed)
Corsican: liberu, libaru
Emilian: lèbber
Franco-Provençal: libro
Istriot: leîbaro
Italian: libero
- → Ladino: libero
Ligurian: libero
Lombard: liber, libar
Aragonese: libre
Old Leonese:
- Asturian: llibre, chibre
- Extremaduran: libri
- Leonese: llibru
- Mirandese: libre, lhibre
Old Occitan: liure
- Catalan: lliure
- Occitan: liure
Old Portuguese: livre, libre
- Fala: libri
- Galician: libre
- Portuguese: livre
  - Guinea-Bissau Creole: livri, libri
Spanish: libre
- → English: libre
- → Hiligaynon: libre
- → Tagalog: libre
Piedmontese: lìber
Friulian: libar
Romagnol: lébar
Sardinian: líbberu, líveru
Sicilian: lìbbiru, lìbburu
Venetian: łìbaro
→ Old French: libre (semi-learned)
- French: libre
  - → Alemannic German: liiber
  - → English: libre
  - → Romanian: liber
- Norman: libe
- Walloon: lîb

Noun

līber m (genitive līberī); second declension

(post-Classical) a child
Synonyms: fīlius, nātus

Usage notes

Until the post-classical era, this word was a pluralia tantum (only used in the plural). Even in the post-classical era, the singular was extremely rare in writing and for the most part, only found in the Code of Justinian. In the classical era, it seems it was used in the singular in Quintilian's Declamationes maiores 2.8.

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	līber	līberī
Genitive	līberī	līberōrum
Dative	līberō	līberīs
Accusative	līberum	līberōs
Ablative	līberō	līberīs
Vocative	līber	līberī

Etymology 2

From Proto-Italic *luβros, from Proto-Indo-European *lubʰ-ró-s, from *lewbʰ- (“to peel, cut off, harm”), perhaps from *lew- (“to cut off”).[1] Cognate with Old Church Slavonic лѹбъ (lubŭ, “bark of a tree”), Lithuanian lùpti (“to peel, to shell”).[2] See also English leaf, lobby, lodge, Ancient Greek λυπή (lupḗ, “pain”).

Alternative forms

lib., l.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ber/, [ˈlʲɪbɛr]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ber/, [ˈliːber]

Noun

liber m (genitive librī); second declension

book
- 8 CE – 12 CE, Ovid, Tristia 1.1-2:
  Parvē — nec invideō — sine mē, liber, ībis in urbem,
  eī mihi, quod dominō nōn licet īre tuō!
  Little book – I don’t begrudge [you] – without me you will go to the city: Going from me, because it is not allowed for your master to go!
  (The exiled poet addresses his book as if it is a servant he will send to Rome.)
the inner bark of a tree

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	liber	librī
Genitive	librī	librōrum
Dative	librō	librīs
Accusative	librum	librōs
Ablative	librō	librīs
Vocative	liber	librī

Derived terms

libellus
librārius
librārium

Descendants

Aragonese: libro
→ Albanian: libër
→ Basque: liburu
Corsican: libru
Dalmatian: lebro
Emilian: lîber
→ English: liber, libro-
Franco-Provençal: lévro
French: liber, libro-
Friulian: libri
→ Ido: libro
Istriot: leîbro
Italian: libro
Ladin: liber
Ligurian: libbro
Lombard: libar, liber, libru
→ Old French: livre (semi-learned)
- French: livre
- Norman: livre
Old Leonese:
- Asturian: llibru
- Extremaduran: libru
- Leonese: llibru
- Mirandese: lhibro, libro
Old Portuguese: livro, libro
- Fala: libru
- Galician: libro
  - → Guinea-Bissau Creole: libru
- Portuguese: livro
Old Occitan: libre
- Catalan: llibre
- Occitan: libre
Old Spanish: libro
- Spanish: libro
  - Chavacano: libro
  - → Bikol Central: libro
  - → Cebuano: libro
  - → Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: libro
  - → Ibatan: libro
  - → Quechua: liwru
  - → Tagalog: libro
  - → Zacatlán-Ahuacatlán-Tepetzintla Nahuatl: libro
Piedmontese: lìber
Romagnol: lìbar
Sardinian: líbbaru, líbberu, libbru, líbburu
Sicilian: libbru
Venetian: łìbro
Walloon: lîv, live
→ Proto-Brythonic: *llɨβr (see there for further descendants)
→ Old Irish: lebor (see there for further descendants)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.ber/, [ˈlʲiːbɛr]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ber/, [ˈliːber]

Verb

līber

first-person singular present passive subjunctive of lībō

References

“līber, adj.”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“līber, n.”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“liber”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
liber in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
- Cicero's philosophical writings: Ciceronis de philosophia libri
- to write a book: librum scribere, conscribere
- to compose, compile a book: librum conficere, componere (De Sen. 1. 2)
- to publish a book: librum edere (Div. 1. 3. 6)
- to open a book: librum evolvere, volvere
- to dedicate a book to some one: librum mittere ad aliquem (Fin. 1. 3. 8)
- the title of a book: index, inscriptio libri
- to be engaged on a book: librum in manibus habere (Acad. 1. 1. 2)
- to take up a book in one's hands: librum in manus sumere
- to lay down a book (vid. sect. XII. 3, note vestem deponere...): librum de manibus ponere
- to polish, finish a work with the greatest care: perpolire, limare diligenter librum, opus
- (ambiguous) to make extracts from Cicero's writings: aliquid, multa ex Ciceronis libris excerpere (not excerpere librum)
- to furnish a book with notes, additional extracts, marks of punctuation: librum annotare, interpolare, distinguere
- (ambiguous) in the time of the Republic: libera re publica
- (ambiguous) to accept as one's own child; to make oneself responsible for its nurture and education: tollere or suscipere liberos
- (ambiguous) to treat as one's own child: aliquem in liberorum loco habere
- (ambiguous) the teaching of children: disciplina (institutio) puerilis (not liberorum)
- (ambiguous) the work when translated; translation (concrete): liber (scriptoris) conversus, translatus
- (ambiguous) the book is entitled 'Laelius': liber inscribitur Laelius (Off. 2. 9. 30)
- (ambiguous) Cicero says in his 'Laelius.: Cicero dicit in Laelio (suo) or in eo (not suo) libro, qui inscribitur Laelius
- (ambiguous) there exists a book on..: est liber de...
- (ambiguous) the book is still extant: exstat liber (notice the order of the words)
- (ambiguous) the book has been lost: liber intercidit, periit
- (ambiguous) a book which has been entirely lost sight of: liber deperditus
- (ambiguous) a lost book of which fragments (relliquiae, not fragmenta) remain: liber perditus
- (ambiguous) a book which is attributed to some one: liber qui fertur alicuius
- (ambiguous) the book is attributed to an unknown writer: liber refertur ad nescio quem auctorem
- (ambiguous) the book treats of friendship: hic liber est de amicitia (not agit) or hoc libro agitur de am.
- (ambiguous) the book contains something... (not continet aliquid): libro continetur aliquid
- (ambiguous) the book contains something... (not continet aliquid): libro scriptor complexus est aliquid
- (ambiguous) at the end of the book: in extremo libro (Q. Fr. 2. 7. 1)
- (ambiguous) to be engaged on a book: liber mihi est in manibus
- (ambiguous) the book, speech can easily be obtained: liber, oratio in manibus est
- (ambiguous) a carefully written book: liber accurate, diligenter scriptus
- (ambiguous) to make extracts from Cicero's writings: aliquid, multa ex Ciceronis libris excerpere (not excerpere librum)
- (ambiguous) a very charming book: liber plenus delectationis
- (ambiguous) the frank but defiant demeanour of Socrates (before his judges): libera contumacia Socratis (Tusc. 1. 29. 71)
- (ambiguous) the Republic: libera res publica, liber populus
- (ambiguous) an independent spirit: a partibus rei publicae animus liber (Sall. Cat. 4. 2)
- (ambiguous) to enslave a free people: liberum populum servitute afficere
- (ambiguous) to grant a people its independence: populum liberum esse, libertate uti, sui iuris esse pati
- (ambiguous) the free men are sold as slaves: libera corpora sub corona (hasta) veneunt (B. G. 3. 16. 4)
- (ambiguous) with wife and child: cum uxoribus et liberis
“liber”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
“liber”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929), Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
“liber”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
“liber”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 690
“libro” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Lombard

Etymology 1

Akin to Italian libero, from Latin līber.

Adjective

liber

free

Etymology 2

Akin to Italian libro, from Latin liber.

Noun

liber

book

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin liber, French libre (19th century). Aromanian libir appears to be inherited.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈli.ber/

Adjective

liber m or n (feminine singular liberă, masculine plural liberi, feminine and neuter plural libere)

free, at liberty

Declension

Declension of liber

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	liber		liberă	liberi	libere
nominative/ accusative	definite	liberul		libera	liberii	liberele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	liber		libere	liberi	libere
genitive/ dative	definite	liberului		liberei	liberilor	liberelor

Synonyms

slobod

Related terms

elibera
libera

[1] Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 690

[2] “libro” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

liber

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

Noun

Pronunciation

Noun

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Adjective

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

Noun

Usage notes

Declension

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Verb

References

Lombard

Etymology 1

Adjective

Etymology 2

Noun

Romanian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Declension

Synonyms

Related terms