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Talk:свободный

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Latest comment: 12 years ago by Stephen G. Brown

The etymology would be appreciated. Does it have to do with the reflexive свой (svoj) ? Maybe does it mean "having at oneself's disposal " ? (sorry for the English mistakes. In French we would say "qui dispose de sa (propre) personne") --Fsojic (talk) 21:28, 29 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

From the noun свобода, which is from Common Slavonic *sveboda. It has a variant in Old Russian слобода (same meaning). Common Slavonic *sveboda is related to OCS свобьство, собьство, where *svobь is from *svojь (see свой, свойство). Cognate with German Schwaben, Suebi. —Stephen (Talk) 21:46, 29 September 2012 (UTC)Reply
Ok, thank you, but what is the link with свой (svoj) ? A свободный man is someone who "owns himself, his own body", this is it ? --Fsojic (talk) 13:36, 30 September 2012 (UTC)Reply
The link with свой (svoj) happened at a very early time, in Early Common Slavonic or perhaps even earlier (in PIE). I am not sure of the range of meaning in PIE *swe, but the main sense was separate, apart. —Stephen (Talk) 00:06, 1 October 2012 (UTC)Reply