"Friends-free" ?

A follow-up to Smoke-free

What did "free" mean originally?

Used in the times of Old English, "free" originally referred to being a state of "not in servitude to another." Therefore, "free" person is the one that has "personal, social, and political rights as a member of a society or state." (OED, s. v. "free" 1)

It is not a coincidence that "free" and "friend" look similar.
"friend." comes from the present participle of the verb "free," so the former is so-called "derivative"!

The first citation of "friend" is from Beowulf, the oldest heroic poem in English literature.

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... Heorot innan wæs
freondum afylled; nalles facenstafas
Þeodscyldingas þenden fremedon. (1017-19)

(Heorot inside was filled with friends. . .)
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Heorot is a place where Beowulf and his retinues stay and feast together.
"Friends" gathering here has a sense of intimacy with each other, belonging to the same tribal community.

Some day, people will get more familiar with the use of "free" in the sense of "clear of/free of" and expand on it. For example, some people might begin to say something like,

     "I just don't need any friends around me. I'm absolutely OK with being "friends-free"!

"Friend" and "free" meets up miraculously and are integrated into one after their long individual journey.