word a day#6

libertine |ˈlibərˌtēn|noun1 a person, esp. a man, who behaves without moral principles or a sense of responsibility, esp. in sexual matters.2 a person who rejects accepted opinions in matters of religion; a freethinker.adjective1 characterized by a disregard of morality, esp. in sexual matters : his more libertine impulses.2 freethinking in matters of religion.DERIVATIVESlibertinage |-ˌtēnij| |ˈlɪbərˈtinɪdʒ| nounlibertinism |-ˌnizəm| |ˈlɪbərˈtiˈnɪzəm| nounORIGIN late Middle English (denoting a freed slave or the son of one): from Latinlibertinus ‘freedman,’ from liber ‘free.’ In the mid 16th cent., imitating French libertin, the term denoted a member of any of various antinomian sects in France; hence sense 2.
I find it interesting that this word has two very different implications...... You can be either a sexual deviant or a heretic. And why is it a freed slave would be considered without morals? Shouldn't that have been the owner? Oh I suppose it was the slave owners that made up the word to begin with.