Libera/nubile?

[jml1991]

On some marriage records that I have seen, the bride is referred to as "nubile" and on some she is referred to as "libera." I have noticed both terms used in the same time period and in the same town for different women, so I assume they not interchangeable terms for an unmarried woman, but what is the difference?

[liviomoreno]

Nubile = never married
Libera = not married
The same is for the masculine form: Celibe and Libero

[jml1991]

Thank you! I am still curious, however, as to under what circumstances they would use the term libera instead of nubile in the 1800s, when divorce was pretty much nonexistent and previously married women would have all been widows and referred to as such. Could it possibly mean that a previous marriage was annulled?

[liviomoreno]

I believe that some times the clerk would have used "libera" as a synonym of "nubile".
A "nubile" woman is definitely "libera". A "libera" woman may be "vedova" or "divorziata" or "annulled" or "nubile"....