libertarian

Meanings

Noun

• One who advocates liberty, either generally or in relation to a specific issue.
• A believer in libertarianism, a political doctrine that emphasizes individual liberty and a lack of governmental regulation, intervention, and oversight both in matters of the economy (‘free market’) and in personal behavior where no one’s rights are being violated or threatened.
• A left-libertarian, an antiauthoritarian believer in both individual freedom and social justice (social equality and mutual aid).
• A believer in the freedom of thinking beings to choose their own destiny, i.e. a believer in free will as opposed to those who believe the future is predetermined.

Adjective

• Having the beliefs of libertarians; having a relative tendency towards liberty.
• Relating to liberty, or to the doctrine of free will, as opposed to the doctrine of necessity.

Origin

• liberty + -arian, dating from 1789.
• libertaire formed from liberté, from Latin libertas and the suffix -aire, from Latin -arius.
• The word first appeared in English in 1789 in William Belsham's . This was contrasted with necessitarian, in the context of free will, and was not used in the current sense.
• The French word is first attested in a letter in May 1857 by French
• anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque to anarchist philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, reading:
• : “Anarchiste juste-milieu, libéral et non LIBERTAIRE…”
• In translation:
• : “A centrist anarchist, liberal and not LIBERTARIAN…”
• hence the sense is of “extreme left-wing”.
• The French term was popularized as a euphemism for anarchist in the 1890s, following the lois scélérates, when anarchist publications were banned by law in France.
• The sense of “pro-property individualist” developed in the US in the 1940s, and was popularized in the 1950s. In the 1940s, Leonard Read began calling himself “libertarian” to contrast with “classical liberal”. In 1955, Dean Russell also promoted use of the word, writing: “Let those of us who love liberty trademark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word ‘libertarian’.”