"freely given, bountiful, liberal," 1620s, from Greek eleutherios "like a free man, noble-minded, frank, liberal," literally "freeing, delivering," also the title of Zeus as protector of political freedom, from eleutheria "freedom," from eleutheros "free, free man" (opposed to dolous "slave"), from PIE *leu-dheros, from root leudh- "grow up, come out" (see liberal (adj.)).
"process of disillusioning; state of being free from illusion," 1855, from disillusion + -ment.
1706, "small pie or pastry," from French pâté, from Old French paste, earlier pastée, from paste (see paste (n.)). Especially pâté de foie gras (1827), which was originally a pie or pastry filled with fatted goose liver; the word now generally is used of the filling itself.
mid-14c., purifien, "to free from spiritual pollution," from Old French purefier "purify, cleanse, refine" (12c.), from Latin purificare "to make pure," from purus "pure" (see pure) + combining form of facere "to make" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Meaning "free from extraneous matter" is recorded from late 14c. Related: Purified; purifying.
The exact origin of the free- is a subject of dispute. Some [such as Klein] see a corruption of French frère "brother," from frèremaçon "brother mason;" others say it was because the masons worked on "free-standing" stones; still others see them as "free" from the control of local guilds or lords [OED]. Related: freemasonic.
