What is the difference between freedom and liberty? Freedom and liberty, these two words are both translated to the same word in Japanese, "自由". Those words and the notion described by those words mig

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What is the difference between freedom and liberty? Freedom and liberty, these two words are both translated to the same word in Japanese, "自由". Those words and the notion described by those words might have been imported to Japan. Is there any difference between them?

Nov 15, 2016 1:49 AM

Answers · 6

They are often used together poetically, but keep in mind that English has its origins in both the romance languages (with the arrival of the Normans) and germanic languages (e.g. Anglo-Saxons). As such, "Freedom" is of Germanic origin, whilst "Liberty" is of French origin. This happens a lot - we often have word pairs from both languages :) French: Liberté Latin: Libertas German: Freiheit Low German: frīdom Modern Dutch: Vrijheid Middle Dutch: vrijdom

November 15, 2016

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