freo

See also: Freo

Galician

Alternative forms

• freu

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese frẽo (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin frēnum. Cognate with Portuguese freio, Spanish freno and French frein.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɾe.ʊ], [ˈfɾeʊ̯]

Noun

freo m (plural freos)

1. brake

   Synonyms: entrabe, trabán

2. bridle

   Synonym: brida

   • 1455, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros, Vigo: Galaxia, page 316:

     Iten, que furtara a faqa a Pero Gayo da sua casa, que está á par da vila de Ribadauia, da casa que está á par da ponte, et que lla furtara con a sella e con o freo et que fora despois por ela preso ena Cruña

     Item, that he stole the mare of Pedro Gaio, from his house that is close to the town of Ribadavia, by the bridge; and that he stole her with saddle and bridle, and that later he was captured because of her in A Coruña

3. bit of the bridle
4. strait, passage

Related terms

• enfrear
• frear
• refrear

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “freo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “freo”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “freo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “freo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “freo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Irish

Alternative forms

• freob

Pronunciation

• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /fˠɾˠoːbˠ/ (corresponding to the variant freob)

Pronoun

freo (emphatic freosan)

1. third-person plural of fré

References

• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1977) Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge: An Deilbhíocht (in Irish), 2nd edition, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, § 306

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *friu, a byform of *frī. 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. Proto-West Germanic *friund, from *frijōndz), 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.

Alternative forms

• frīo, freoh, frioh, friġ, frī, frȳ

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fre͜oː/

Adjective

frēo

1. free, at liberty; exempt
   • c. 890, Alfred the Great, Laws

     Beo he freo

     he shall be free.

2. (poetic) noble, glad
   • c. 700 Cædmon, Metrical Paraphrase

     Ða wearþ worn afeded freora bearna

     then a number of noble children were brought forth.

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.

Declension of frēo — Strong

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	frēo	frēo	frēo
Accusative	frēone	frēo	frēo
Genitive	frēos	frēore	frēos
Dative	frēom, frēoum	frēore	frēom, frēoum
Instrumental	frēo	frēore	frēo
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	frēo	frēo	frēo
Accusative	frēo	frēo	frēo
Genitive	frēora	frēora	frēora
Dative	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum
Instrumental	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum

Declension of frēo — Weak

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	frēo	frēo	frēo
Accusative	frēon	frēon	frēo
Genitive	frēon	frēon	frēon
Dative	frēon	frēon	frēon
Instrumental	frēon	frēon	frēon
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	frēon	frēon	frēon
Accusative	frēon	frēon	frēon
Genitive	frēora, frēona	frēora, frēona	frēora, frēona
Dative	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum
Instrumental	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum	frēom, frēoum

Derived terms

• frēolīċ
• frēolīċe

Related terms

• frēond
• frēoġan
• friþ
• frīġ

Descendants

• Middle English: fre, vri, vry
  • English: free
    • → Fiji Hindi: firii
  • Scots: fre

Noun

frēo m

1. a free man, man

Declension

Declension of frēo (weak)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	frēo	frēon
accusative	frēon	frēon
genitive	frēon	frēona
dative	frēon	frēom, frēoum

Etymology 2

Uncertain; possible etymologies include:

• From Proto-West Germanic *frauwjā, from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ, a feminine form of *frawjô (“lord”) (Old English frēa), from Proto-Indo-European *proHwo-, a derivation from *per- (“to go forward”). Cognate with Old Saxon frūa, Old High German frouwa (German Frau), Old Norse freyja. The Indo-European root is also the source of Proto-Slavic *prāvъ (Old Church Slavonic правъ (pravŭ), Russian пра́вый (právyj, “right”)), and the first element of Latin provincia.
• From Proto-Germanic *frijō, of the same root as etymology 1 above and related to the verb that yielded Old English frēoġan (“to liberate; to love”).

Noun

frēo f (Northumbrian)

1. a woman
   • c. 700, Cædmon, Metrical Paraphrase:

     oþ-ðæt hē funde frēo fæġroste

     until he found the fairest woman

Related terms

• frēa
• frōwe