Where does “libre” come from?
libre (Middle French) comes from Old French libre, from Latin Līber, from Old Latin loeber, from French lober, from French lob, from English lob, from English long, from English longitude — small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble.
Ancestry of “libre”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | libre | — |
| 2 | Latin | Līber | — |
| 3 | Old Latin | loeber | — |
| 4 | French | lober | to lob |
| 5 | French | lob | lob |
| 6 | English | lob | To throw or hit a ball into the air in a high... |
| 7 | English | long | Having much distance from one terminating point... |
| 8 | English | longitude | Angular distance measured west or east of the... |
| 9 | Old French | longitude | — |
| 10 | Latin | longitūdō | — |
| 11 | Latin | longus | far, long; extended, prolonged; long; tedious,... |
| 12 | Latin | -ē | — |
| 13 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 14 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 15 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 16 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |