“Free” is related to Norse “Fri”, German “Frei” which descends from an Indo-European “priya” or, “fria” or, “riya”, which mean dear or, beloved. Free, Freedom and Friend share the same etymology. Thereby, free relates to someone who was joined to a tribe of free people by ties of kinship and rights of belonging.
Considering the word origins, the words “Liberty” and “Freedom”, were not merely different, but opposed. Liberty implies separation whereas freedom means connection.
Taking account of ancient ideologies (as in Norse sagas/ Northern Europe), the idea of freedom meant being the ruler of oneself like choosing one’s own government or, ruler whereas “Freedom” was a birthright which all freemen shares.
In ancient Rome, people are not born free. Libertas was a ritual by which slaves were released from bondage. It’s said “the Romans consider Libertas as an acquired civil right, not as an innate right of man.”
The freeborn people of North Europe were alike in their birth right of freedom. Freedom created an element of equalities among inequalities. The ancient rule was summarized by Frederick Pollock and Frederick Maitland: “All freemen are equal before Law”.
In ancient Rome, liberty implied inequality. People were granted different liberties according to their condition. In Roman Republic, its citizen’s possessed the liberty of government by assembly, but in different ways according to their ranks. Magistrates and Senators had liberty to speak; Citizens had liberty listen and vote; Slaves had liberty to look on, but they could neither speak, nor listen or, vote.
Another difference is that, freeborn people in northern Europe had possessions which are called rights whereas Citizens of Rome were granted special favour, i.e. privileges. The privilege was something that might be given, but a right was something that must be given.
An interesting fact is that these ancient traditions of liberty and freedom both entailed
obligations and responsibilities.The gift of Libertas brought with it an obligation to act in wise and responsible way. A person with liberty was responsible for his own acts.
A person who was born to freedom in an ancient tribe had a sacred obligation to serve and support to folk, and keep the customs of free people, and to respect the rights of others on pain and banishment.
To be continued...
Extracted From: Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America’s Founding Ideas – David Hackett Fischer
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