Talk:свободный

The etymology would be appreciated. Does it have to do with the reflexive свой ? 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)

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)

Ok, thank you, but what is the link with свой ? A свободный man is someone who "owns himself, his own body", this is it ? --Fsojic (talk) 13:36, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

The link with свой 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)