Introduction

Proper Freedom for our Friends this Friday (Juneteenth). ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏼

And perhaps more importantly, proper freedom even for those who are not our friends. Which is in contrast to the ancient, but all too modern, semantic connection where only those we like get to be free.

Teaser

freedom, proper, friend, Friday

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *preyH- to love, to please

  • Proto-Indo-European *priHnéHti loves, pleases

    • Albanian Prende divinity of love and dawn a clear reflex of the divinity *H₂éwsōs

      • Albanian e premte Friday calque of `(diēs
    • Indo-Iranian *priHnáHti

      • Indo-Aryan

        • Sanskrit 𑀧𑁆𑀭𑀻𑀡𑀸𑀢𑀺 prīṇā́ti pleases, gladdens, soothes, fulfills
      • Iranian *friHnáHti

        • Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬍𐬥𐬁𐬌 frīnāi rejoices, pleases
        • Iranian *ā-friHnaHti

          • Avestan 𐬁𐬟𐬭𐬍𐬥𐬁𐬨𐬌 āfrīnāmi I bless
          • Northern Iranian

            • Saka

              • Khotani āvun- to approve
          • Western Iranian

            • Northwestern Iranian

              • Parthian fryn- to bless

                • Old Armenian օրհնեմ ōrhnem to bless, to consecrate, to sing hymns, to greet

                  • Armenian օրհնել ōrhnel to bless, to praise, to give thanks
              • Kurdish afrandin to create
            • Old Persian

              • Persian آفریدن âfaridan to create
  • Proto-Indo-European *priHós dear, loved, free, happy ^[1]

    • Celtic *ɸriyos

      • Brythonic *rrɨð

        • Welsh rhydd free
      • Gaulish *rios

        • Gaulish Riotalus Free?-Forehead (personal name)
    • Germanic *frijaz free

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 freis free
      • West Germanic

        • Old English frēo free, at liberty, exempt

          • English free
        • Frankish *frī

          • Dutch vrij free

            • Dutch vrijbuiter freebooter, pirate

              • English freebooter calque
              • French flibustier freebooter, filibuster ^[2]

                • Spanish filibustero pirate, freebooter ^[2]

                  • English filibuster ^[2]
        • Old High German frī

          • German frei free
        • West Germanic *frīdōm

          • Old English frēodōm freedom

            • English freedom
          • Frankish *frīduom

            • Dutch vrijdom freedom
          • Old High German frītuom
      • Germanic *friþuz peace, calm

        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse friðr peace

            • Danish fred peace
            • Icelandic friður peace
            • Swedish fred peace

              • Swedish Nobels fredspris Nobel Peace Prize
        • West Germanic

          • Old English friþ peace, refuge
          • Frankish *friþu

            • Dutch vrede peace, treaty
            • Gallo-Romance *fridare

              • Gallo-Romance *esfridare to frighten

                • Old French esfreer to frighten

                  • French effrayer to frighten, to scare, to affray
                  • Anglo-Norman afrayer

                    • English affray

                      • English afraid ^[3]
                      • English fray
                • Old Occitan esfredar to frighten
          • Old High German fridu

            • German Frieden peace
        • Germanic *Friþurīks Peace-King (personal name)

          • North Germanic

            • Old Norse Friðríkr

              • Icelandic Friðrik
          • West Germanic

            • Frankish

              • Dutch Frederik
              • French Frédéric
            • Old High German

              • German Friedrich

                • English Frederick

                  • English Fred
              • Italian Federico
              • Spanish Federico
          • Estonian Vidrik
          • Latin Fridericus
        • Germanic *Friþugernaz Peace-Desiring (personal name)

          • East Germanic

            • Gothic *Friþugairns

              • Latin Fritigernus

                • English Fritigern
        • Germanic *Gautafriþuz Geat-Peace (personal name) ^[4]

          • West Germanic

            • Old High German

              • German Gottfried
              • Old French Godefrei

                • English Godfrey
          • Latin Godefridus

            • Western Romance

              • Old French Geoffroi

                • French Geoffroy
                • English Geoffrey

                  • English Jeff
                  • English Jefferson
              • Spanish Gaufredo
              • Irish Séafra
      • Germanic *frijahalsaz free, not imprisoned, freedom, liberty lit. "free-neck"

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 freihals freedom, liberty
        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse frjáls

            • Icelandic frjáls free
        • West Germanic

          • Old English frēols freedom, immunity, privilege, peace, festival
    • Indo-Iranian *priHás

      • Indo-Aryan *priHás

        • Sanskrit 𑀧𑁆𑀭𑀺𑀬 priyá favorite, loved, beloved also a personal name

          • Elu

            • Sinhala පිය piya
          • Magadhi 𑀧𑀺𑀬 piya
          • Pali 𑀧𑀺𑀬𑀸 piyā wife
          • Sauraseni 𑀧𑀺𑀬 piya

            • Madhya Sauraseni

              • Hindi पिया piyā beloved, darling
          • Malay pria man, boy
      • Iranian *priHáh

        • Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 friia pleasant, good, beloved, friend
        • Northern Iranian

          • Saka

            • Khotani briya- dear, treasured
        • Western Iranian

          • Old Persian

            • Persian فری fari dear, beloved, pleasing archaic
    • Italic *prijos

      • Italic *proprijos from family?

        • Latin proprius one's own, individual, characteristic, particular

          • Central Romance

            • Italian proprio one's own, characteristic, typical, proper, quite, exactly, due
          • Western Romance

            • French propre clean, one's own

              • English proper
            • Spanish proprio one's own, proper
          • Latin proprietas property, characteristic, possession

            • Central Romance

              • Italian proprietà property
            • Western Romance

              • French propriété propriété

                • English property
                • English propriety
              • Spanish propiedad property
          • Latin propriare

            • Latin appropriare I make my own, I appropriate

              • English appropriate
    • Proto-Indo-European *priHeh₂yéti

      • Balto-Slavic

        • Slavic *prijàti to please, to favor

          • South Slavic

            • Old Church Slavonic приꙗти prijati to sympathize, to assist
            • Serbo-Croatian прѝјати prìjati to please, to be agreeable, to suit
          • West Slavic

            • Old Polish przyjać

              • Polish sprzyjać to favor
          • Slavic *prijàteľь friend "one who pleases/favors"

            • East Slavic приꙗтель prijatelĭ friend

              • Russian прия́тель prijátelʹ friend
            • South Slavic

              • Old Church Slavonic приꙗтел҄ь prijatelʹĭ friend
              • Serbo-Croatian при̏јатељ prȉjatelj friend
            • West Slavic

              • Polish przyjaciel close friend
            • Romanian prieten friend
      • Germanic *frijōnã to love, to like, to free, to be free

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽 frijōn to love
        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse frjá

            • Danish fri to propose
        • West Germanic

          • Old English frēoġan to free, to liberate, to love, to honor

            • English free
          • Frankish

            • Dutch vrijen to date, to make out
          • Old High German *frīon

            • German freien to marry, to court, to propose archaic
            • Old High German *frīāri

              • German Freier suitor (archaic), client of a prostitute
              • Serbo-Croatian фра̏јер frȁjer guy, hunk
              • Yiddish

                • Hebrew פְרָיֶר fráier patsy
        • Germanic *frijōndz loved one, friend

          • East Germanic

            • Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 frijōnds friend
          • North Germanic

            • Old Norse frændi friend, relative

              • Danish frænde relative
              • Icelandic frændi relative
          • West Germanic

            • Old English frēond friend, lover

              • English friend
              • Scots freend
            • Frankish *friund

              • Dutch vriend friend
            • Old High German friunt

              • German Freund friend
              • Yiddish פֿרײַנד fraynd friend
        • Germanic *Frijjō Divinity of Love and Home

          • North Germanic

            • Old Norse Frigg

              • English Frigg
          • West Germanic

            • Old High German Friia
            • West Germanic *frījādag Friday, Frigg's day calque of Latin dīes Veneris: "Venus's day"

              • Old English frīġedæġ

                • English Friday

                  • Māori Paraire
              • Frankish *frīadag

                • Dutch vrijdag
              • Old High German frīatag

                • German Freitag
              • Old Saxon *frīadag

                • Low German Freedag
                • Old Norse frjádagr

                  • Danish fredag
                  • Finnish perjantai
      • Indo-Iranian *priHaHyáti

        • Indo-Aryan

          • Sanskrit 𑀧𑁆𑀭𑀺𑀬𑀸𑀬𑀢𑁂 priyāyáte treats kindly, befriends, rejoices at

Visual

Collected English words

free, freebooter, filibuster, freedom, affray, afraid, fray, Frederick, Fred, Fritigern, Godfrey, Geoffrey, Jeff, Jefferson, proper, property, propriety, appropriate, free, friend, Frigg, Friday

Footnotes

1. ^

   The semantic chain from "loved" to "free" comes from the expectation in Bronze Age and into Iron Age culture that there are two groups of people in a living group (clan, household, or whatever): the members of the extended family, who you love, and the everyone else, who are indentured servants, serfs, prisoners of war, and/or slaves.

   See for example this archaeogentic study, which found that the gravesites for a certain homestead in Neolithic and Bronze Age Germany consisted of three groups: 1. rich men who were all patrilineally related to each other, 2. rich women who grew up far away and married the rich men, and 3. poor men and women who were not related to rich family members, nor all to each other.

   Compare also words for "noble" and/or "free" derived from *ǵenh₁-: "to produce, to beget, to give birth", such as Persian آزاد âzâd: "independent, unimpeded, free, liberal" and Latin ingenuus: "natural, free-born, noble".

2. ^

   The -s- was added into French flibustier when it was borrowed from Dutch vrijbuiter, by analogy to native French words with silent 's's representing deleted sounds from Old French. When the word was subsequently borrowed into Spanish, the written 's' became pronounced.

   The legislative meaning of filibuster first appears in the United States around 1860, originally referring to a congressman who metaphorically hijacked a debate. A few decades later, the word was extended to refer to the process.

3. ^

   English afraid is originally the past participle of affray from Anglo-Norman afrayer: "to frighten". This is a Gallo-Romance construction (Old French esfreer, Old Occitan esfredar, etc.) made of Latin ex- and West Germanic *friþu: "peace" (comapre Dutch vrede: "peace, treaty"), so *ex-friþu "out of peace, to disturb the peace".

   It is etymologically unrelated to—but has probably been in constant influence back and forth with—afeared, which happens to be extremely similar in form and meaning, but share nothing except the -ed suffix. (equivalent to something like *h₂us-per-ye-eh₂tos vs. *eǵʰs-priHto-si-eh₂tos)

4. ^

   Descendant names of *Gautafriþuz may also be based *Gudãfriþuz: "God-Peace", and/or *Gawjãfriþuz: "Region-Peace", either instead of *Gautafriþuz or by merger. Or even *Gīslafriþuz: "Hostage-Peace" or *Walhafriþuz: "Foreigner-Peace".

   The nickname Fred, besides coming from any *-friþuz name, can also come from Alfred: "Elf-Counsel", where the fr> is cross-morpheme.