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absolute: absolute: [14] Absolute, absolution, and absolve all come ultimately from the same source: Latin absolvere ‘set free’, a compound verb made up from the prefix ab- ‘away’ and the verb solvere ‘loose’ (from which English gets solve and several other derivatives, including dissolve and resolve). From the 13th to the 16th century an alternative version of the verb, assoil, was in more common use than absolve; this came from the same Latin original, but via Old French rather than by a direct route.

The t of absolute and absolution comes from the past participial stem of the Latin verb – absolūt-. The noun, the adjective, and the verb have taken very different routes from their common semantic starting point, the notion of ‘setting free’: absolve now usually refers to freeing from responsibility and absolution to the remitting of sins, while absolute now means ‘free from any qualification or restriction’.
=> dissolve, resolve, solve
deliver: deliver: [13] To deliver something is etymologically to ‘set it free’. The word comes via Old French delivrer from late Latin dēlīberāre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dē- and Latin līberāre ‘set free’, a derivative of the adjective līber ‘free’. Its meaning developed through ‘set free’ to ‘give up, surrender’ and finally ‘hand over to someone else’. (Classical Latin dēlīberāre, source of English deliberate [15], is an entirely different verb, derived from Latin lībra ‘scales’.)
=> liberate
dispatch: dispatch: [16] Dispatch appears to have been borrowed from Spanish despachar ‘expedite’, but its ultimate origins are not clear. The likeliest source of the Spanish word is Old French despeechier ‘set free’ (source of modern French dépêcher ‘hurry’), a compound verb formed from the prefix des- ‘un-’ and the verbal element -peechier ‘impede, hinder’, which is also represented in English impeach and goes back ultimately to Latin pedica ‘shackle’.

The semantic history of dispatch thus appears to be ‘unshackle’, ‘set free’, ‘send away, get rid of’, and hence (with the notion of ‘freeing from restraint’) ‘send away quickly’. (The currency of the alternative spelling despatch is due to its occurrence in Dr Johnson’s Dictionary 1755.)
=> impeach
quit: quit: [13] Quit comes from the same ultimate source as quiet – Latin quiētus. This originally meant simply ‘quiet, calm’, but in medieval Latin it developed a wider range of senses, including ‘unharmed’ and ‘free’. From it was derived the verb quiētāre ‘set free, discharge’, which reached English via Old French quiter. The derived forms acquit and requite [16] come from the same source, and quite is essentially the same word as quit.
=> quiet
absolute (adj.): late 14c., "unrestricted; complete, perfect;" also "not relative to something else" (mid-15c.), from Middle French absolut (14c., Old French asolu, Modern French absolu), from Latin absolutus, past participle of absolvere "to set free, make separate" (see absolve).

Most of the current senses also were in the Latin word. Sense evolution was "detached, disengaged," thus "perfect, pure." Meaning "despotic" (1610s) is from notion of "absolute in position." Absolute monarchy is recorded from 1735 (absolute king is recorded from 1610s); scientific absolute magnitude (1902), absolute value (1907) are from early 20c. In metaphysics, the absolute "that which is absolute" is from 1809.
absolve (v.): early 15c., from Latin absolvere "set free, loosen, acquit," from ab- "from" (see ab-) + solvere "loosen" (see solve). Related: Absolved; absolving.
acquit (v.): early 13c., "to satisfy a debt" (either for oneself or on behalf of another), from Old French aquiter "pay, pay up, settle a claim" (12c.), from a "to" (see ad-) + quite "free, clear" (see quit (adj.)). Meanings "set free from charges" and "to discharge one's duty" both recorded from late 14c. Related: Acquitted; acquitting.
analysis (n.): 1580s, "resolution of anything complex into simple elements" (opposite of synthesis), from Medieval Latin analysis (15c.), from Greek analysis "a breaking up, a loosening, releasing," noun of action from analyein "unloose, release, set free; to loose a ship from its moorings," in Aristotle, "to analyze," from ana "up, throughout" (see ana-) + lysis "a loosening," from lyein "to unfasten" (see lose). Psychological sense is from 1890. Phrase in the final (or last) analysis (1844), translates French en dernière analyse.
deliver (v.): c. 1200, "save, rescue, set free, liberate," from Old French delivrer "to set free; remove; save, preserve; hand over (goods)," also used of childbirth, from Late Latin deliberare, from de- "away" (see de-) + Latin liberare "to free" (see liberal (adj.)).

Childbirth sense in English, "to bring (a woman) to childbirth," is from c. 1300. Sense of "hand over, give, give up, yield" is c. 1300. in English, which brings it in opposition to its root. Meaning "project, throw" is 1590s. Related: Delivered; delivering.
electrolysis (n.): 1834; the name was introduced by Faraday on the suggestion of the Rev. William Whewell (1794-1866), English polymath, from electro- + Greek lysis "a loosening," from lyein "to loosen, set free" (see lose). Originally of tumors, later (1879) of hair removal. Related: electrolytic.
emancipate (v.): 1620s, "set free from control," from Latin emancipatus, past participle of emancipare "put (a son) out of paternal authority, declare (someone) free, give up one's authority over," in Roman law, the freeing of a son or wife from the legal authority (patria potestas) of the pater familias, to make his or her own way in the world; from assimilated form of ex- "out, away" (see ex-) + mancipare "deliver, transfer or sell," from mancipum "ownership," from manus "hand" (see manual (adj.)) + capere "take" (see capable). Related: Emancipated; emancipating.

Not used by the Romans in reference to the freeing of slaves, the verb for this being manumittere. The English word was adopted in the jargon of the cause of religious toleration (17c.), then anti-slavery (1776). Also used in reference to women who free themselves from conventional customs (1850).
emancipated (adj.): 1726, "set free," past participle adjective from emancipate (v.). Meaning "freed from custom or social restraints" is from 1850.
liberate (v.): 1620s, from Latin liberatus, past participle of liberare "set free," from liber "free" (see liberal). Meaning "to free an occupied territory from the enemy" (often used ironically) is from 1942. Related: Liberated; liberating.
liberation (n.): early 15c., from Middle French libération and directly from Latin liberationem (nominative liberatio) "a setting or becoming free," noun of action from past participle stem of liberare "set free" (see liberate). Liberation theology (1969) translates Spanish teologia de la liberación, coined 1968 by Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez.
loose (v.): early 13c, "to set free," from loose (adj.). Meaning "to undo, untie, unfasten" is 14c. Related: Loosed; loosing.
manumission (n.): c. 1400, from Old French manumission "freedom, emancipation," and directly from Latin manumissionem (nominative manumissio) "freeing of a slave," noun of action from past participle stem of manumittere "to set free," from the phrase manu mittere "release from control," from manu, ablative of manus "power of a master," literally "hand" (see manual (adj.)) + mittere "let go, release" (see mission).
pre-atomic (adj.): "before the atomic age," 1914, in "World Set Free" -- H.G. Wells anticipating the word the future would use to look back at a time defined by events that hadn't yet happened in his day; from pre- + atomic.
relax (v.): late 14c., "to make (something) less compact or dense," from Old French relaschier "set free; soften; reduce" (14c.), from Latin relaxare "relax, loosen, open, stretch out, widen again; make loose," from re- "back" (see re-) + laxare "loosen," from laxus "loose" (see lax). Of persons, "to become less formal," from 1837. Meaning "decrease tension" is from early 15c.; intransitive sense of "to become less tense" is recorded from 1935. Related: Relaxed; relaxing.
release (v.): c. 1300, "to withdraw, revoke (a decree, etc.), cancel, lift; remit," from Old French relaissier, relesser "to relinquish, quit, let go, leave behind, abandon, acquit," variant of relacher "release, relax," from Latin relaxare "loosen, stretch out" (see relax), source also of Spanish relajar, Italian relassare.

Meaning "alleviate, ease" is mid-14c., as is sense of "free from (duty, etc.); exonerate." From late 14c. as "grant remission, forgive; set free from imprisonment, military service, etc." Also "give up, relinquish, surrender." In law, c. 1400, "to grant a release of property." Of press reports, attested from 1904; of motion pictures, from 1912; of music recordings, from 1962. As a euphemism for "to dismiss, fire from a job" it is attested in American English since 1904. Related: Released; releasing.
resolve (v.): late 14c., "melt, dissolve, reduce to liquid;" intransitive sense from c. 1400; from Old French resolver or directly from Latin resolvere "to loosen, loose, unyoke, undo; explain; relax; set free; make void, dispel," from re-, perhaps intensive, or "back" (see re-), + solvere "loosen" (see solve). Early 15c. as "separate into components," hence the use in optics (1785). Meaning "determine, decide upon" is from 1520s, hence "pass a resolution" (1580s). For sense evolution, compare resolute (adj.). Related: Resolved; resolving.
rid (v.): c. 1200, "clear (a space); set free, save," from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse ryðja (past tense ruddi, past participle ruddr) "to clear (land) of obstructions," from Proto-Germanic *reudijan (cognates: Old High German riuten, German reuten "to clear land," Old Frisian rothia "to clear," Old English -royd "clearing," common in northern place names), from PIE root *reudh- "to clear land." The general sense of "to make (something) free (of something else)" emerged by 1560s. Senses merged somewhat with Northern English, Scottish, and U.S. dialectal redd. To get rid of (something or someone) is from 1660s. Related: Ridden; ridding.
turn (v.): late Old English turnian "to rotate, revolve," in part also from Old French torner "to turn away or around; draw aside, cause to turn; change, transform; turn on a lathe" (Modern French tourner), both from Latin tornare "to polish, round off, fashion, turn on a lathe," from tornus "lathe," from Greek tornos "lathe, tool for drawing circles," from PIE root *tere- (1) "to rub, rub by turning, turn, twist" (see throw (v.)). Transitive sense in English is from c. 1300. Related: Turned; turning.

Use in expression to turn (something) into (something else) probably retains the classical sense of "to shape on a lathe." To turn up "arrive, make an appearance" is recorded from 1755. Turn about "by turns, alternately" is recorded from 1640s. To turn (something) loose "set free" is recorded from 1590s. Turn down (v.) "reject" first recorded 1891, American English. Turn in "go to bed" is attested from 1690s, originally nautical. To turn the stomach "nauseate" is recorded from 1620s. To turn up one's nose as an expression of contempt is attested from 1779.

Turning point is attested by 1640s in a figurative sense "point at which a decisive change takes place;" literal sense "point on which a thing turns; point at which motion in one direction ceases and that in another or contrary direction begins" is from 1660s.
unloose (v.): mid-14c., "relax;" late 14c., "to set free," from un- (2), used here emphatically, + loose. Old English had unliesan "unloose, set free." Related: Unloosed; unloosing.
vindication (n.): late 15c., "act of avenging, revenge," from Old French vindicacion "vengeance, revenge" and directly from Latin vindicationem (nominative vindicatio) "act of claiming or avenging," noun of action from past participle stem of vindicare "lay claim to, assert; claim for freedom, set free; protect, defend; avenge" (related to vindicta "revenge"), probably from vim dicare "to show authority," from vim, accusative of vis "force" + root of dicere "to say" (see diction). Meaning "justification by proof, defense against censure" is attested from 1640s.