Stallman, who apparently speaks French, said the 'L' stands for "Libre". https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/floss-and-foss.en.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/f

Stallman, who apparently speaks French, said the 'L' stands for "Libre". https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/floss-and-foss.en.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/floss-and-foss.en.html The word matches his intent of "Free Software" without English's ambiguity around gratuity vs. freedom.