# 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: [ˈfɾe.ʊ], [ˈfɾeʊ̯]

### Noun

freo m (plural freos)
* brake
    Synonyms: entrabe, trabán
* 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 CruñaItem, 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
* bit of the bridle
* 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: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* 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: /fˠɾˠoːbˠ/ (as if spelled frób)

### Pronoun

freo (emphatic freosan)
* third-person plural of fré

### References

* ↑ de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1977) Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge: An Deilbhíocht [The Irish of Cois Fharraige: Accidence] (in Irish), 2nd edition, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath [Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies], section 306, page 143

## 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: /fre͜oː/

#### Adjective

frēo (comparative frēora or friġra)
* free, at liberty; exempt
** c. 890, Alfred the Great, Laws
    Beo he freohe shall be free.
* (poetic) noble, glad
** c. 700 Cædmon, Metrical Paraphrase
    Ða wearþ worn afeded freora bearnathen 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.

##### 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
* a free man, man

##### Declension

Weak:

### 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 (hapax legomenon)
* a woman
** c. 700, Cædmon, Metrical Paraphrase:oþ-ðæt hē funde frēo fæġrosteuntil he found the fairest woman

##### Related terms

* frēa
* frōwe