freo

Etymology
From (13th century, ), from. Cognate with 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬 and 🇨🇬.

Noun

 * 1) brake
 * 2) bridle
 * 3) bit of the bridle
 * 4) strait, passage
 * 1) bit of the bridle
 * 2) strait, passage
 * 1) strait, passage

Etymology 1
From, a byform of. The transmission of this word was complex. The Proto-Germanic form must have been *frijwaz. After loss of final *-az and syllabification of *-w, the resulting West-Germanic form was *friju, which developed further to *frīju after gemination and vocalization of *j between *i and another *j. The sequence *iju, *īju then contracts to *iu, yielding a final form *friu (cf., from ), which develops normally to Old English frīo, frēo. The oblique forms should however have retained *-j- in all instances in which it was not followed by *u, yielding an alternation between frīo and frīġ- throughout the paradigm. This alternation, though sparsely attested in the Old English corpus, was too irregular to have been maintained for long and was eventually levelled away in all dialects in favor either of the diphthongal nominative or the oblique forms in -ġ-. Note also that *w was deleted between *īj and any front vowel, thus explaining its absence in certain oblique forms such as frīġes, from earlier /ˈfriːj.wæs/. See Hogg 1992 sections 3.17, 3.19(3), 4.7, and 4.9(1) for details.

Adjective

 * 1) free, at liberty; exempt
 * 2) * c. 890, Alfred the Great, Laws
 * "ang"

- Beo he freo


 * 1)  noble, glad
 * 2) * c. 700 Cædmon, Metrical Paraphrase
 * "ang"

- Ða wearþ worn afeded freora bearna

Declension

 * The stem frēo- contracted with any endings beginning with a vowel, leaving many forms being simply frēo: King Alfred, Pastoral Care (transl. of Gregory the Great): Ac forðæm ðe hi her syngiað, & hit him no ne hreowð, hi gehrinð her sumu wracu ær ðæm ecum witum ðæt hi ne sien freo ne orsorge on ðæm anbide ðæs maran wites.—note that orsorge (orsorh) has the ending -e, as compared to frēo.

Noun

 * 1) a free man, man

Etymology 2

 * possible etymologies include:
 * From, from , a feminine form of (🇨🇬), from , a derivation from . Cognate with 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬 (🇨🇬), 🇨🇬. The Indo-European root is also the source of 🇨🇬 (🇨🇬, 🇨🇬), and the first element of 🇨🇬.
 * From, of the same root as etymology 1 above and related to the verb that yielded.

Noun

 * 1) a woman