English
libbra
Libbra comes from Italian libbra ‘pound (weight)’, and goes back to Latin lībra.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElībra‘libra, Roman pound, a Roman unit of mass, equivalent to about 327 g’
- Italianc. 1300–presentlibbra‘pound (weight)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1934same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElībra‘libra, Roman pound, a Roman unit of mass, equivalent to about 327 g’
- Italianc. 1300–presentlibbra‘pound (weight)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1934same form
Earliest quotation: 1934, Ralph W. Smith, What Is a Fifty-Pound Weight?: “We find that in modern times the funt of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *līðrā ‘ingot’
through Latin lībra ‘libra, Roman pound, a Roman unit of mass,…’
level, deliberate, equilibrium, deliberation, lira, deliberative, libra, 7 more
Today it means
noun A traditional Italian unit of mass now equated to the pound.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lībra / libbra