Liber

A Latin god of agriculture, associated with Dionysos due to his patronage of vineyards, adopted first by Etruscans and then by the Romans. Liber went on to be the god of liberty (from where the word comes) due to the licence practised in his fertility cult. Though the Romans later corrupted the concept by defining it as the liberty 'granted' to the free citizen.

Liber's consort and female equivalent was Libera, the patroness of liberty. She carried an ever burning torch and was the model for the Statue of Liberty in the USA.

Li"ber (?), n. [L. See Libel.] Bot.

The inner bark of plants, lying next to the wood. It usually contains a large proportion of woody, fibrous cells, and is, therefore, the part from which the fiber of the plant is obtained, as that of hemp, etc.

Liber cells, elongated woody cells found in the liber.

© Webster 1913.