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I wonder why all the translation engines show only the word フリー as a
translation for the word "free". Why Japanese people had to borrow an english
word? Wasn't there anything for free in Japanese history? Does the native
Japanese word for "free" exist?
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2016-04-01T17:19:59.837
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2017-08-15T08:39:20.497
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translation history
Native Japanese word for フリー
It's because English "free" has two major meanings which are totally
different, and no native Japanese word covers both of the two meanings of
"free".

  * Free as in "free WiFi", no charge = **無料**
  * Free as in "free speech", liberty = **自由**

If you type only "free" to, for example, Google Translate, it can't guess the
intended meaning, so it ends up with フリー, which is at least understandable to
most Japanese speakers. If you provide a few more words to the program, it can
give a better translation. Here are some results I got:

  * `free` → フリー
  * `free WiFi` → **無料** のWiFi
  * `free call` → **無料** 通話
  * `free speech` → 言論の **自由**
  * `free will` → **自由** 意思
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2016-04-01T18:03:13.010
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2016-04-01T18:03:13.010
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値{あたい} is a native Japanese word for price.

Saying "without price" would be equivalent to "for free" in English:

値なく・値なき・値なし・値のない and so on...
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2016-06-30T15:00:36.273
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2016-06-30T15:00:36.273
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We often use the word, “フリー” to mean (1) flexible or non-committed, e.g.
フリー・サイズ, フリー・タイム、フリー・ランサー、フリー・マーケット (or 青空市場、not “flea market”) and フリー・サービス
in place of self-service. (2) no charge, for free, e.g. フリー・シート in place of
自由席、and フリー・チャージ inn place of 無料.

Of course we use “自由,” in such a way as;

最近自由な時間がなくてね – I don’t have enough free time these days.

五体の自由が利かない – lose the physical locomotiveness.

彼は英語を自由自在に話す – He has a very good command of speaking English →He speaks
English fluently.

どうぞご自由に – Please help yourself.

Ｂut we don’t say “フリー” for “freedom.” We say "自由" for freedom.

The history of "自由" to be used in the meaning of “freedom” is pretty new.

According to blogs. yahoo. jp, it was first used by Hukuzawa Yukichi, an
enlightment thinker in Meiji era, and the founder of the Keio University in
his famous work “西洋事情 – An Introduction of the Western culture” as the
translation of the English word, “freedom.” Before then the word, 自由 was used
as a zen terminology to mean the liberation from one’s worldly desire.
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2016-07-01T00:04:32.780
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2016-07-01T00:12:52.380
2016-07-01T00:12:52.380
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