[Tublecane]

You got some bad information. “Liberty” derives from the Latin “liber,” which means “free.” “Dom” does not mean control or domination. It means status or condition. So “freedom” means the condition or state of being free, which is synonymous with “liberty.”

[Yosemitest]

I have The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology [Hardcover] 1988 edition and it agrees with you.

HOWEVER, it gives the following for -dom a suffix.:
... In Old English -dōm is related to -dōm judgment, DOOM and cognate with Old Saxon -dōm -dom, Old High German -tuom (modern German -tum ), and Old Icelandic -dōmr.

Also I found on Wiktionary.

(“doom, judgment, sentence, condemnation, ordeal, judicial sentence, decree, ordinance, law, custom; justice, equity; direction, ruling, governing, command; might, power, dominion, supremacy, majesty, glory, magnificence, splendor, reputation, honor, praise, dignity, authority; state, condition”).

You might be interested in the subtle differences in

how the word freedom is used in the King James Bible
compared to how the word "liberty" is used in the King James Bible.

There IS a difference between the two words, and as someone commented:

"‘Free’ can mean things antithetical to liberty.
People can be made free of sin, or free of the contradictions inherent to capitalism (per Marx) only by making them decidedly unfree in other ways.
To be kept free of sin, somebody must prevent the people – by force and threat of violence – from doing those things some authority considers sinful.

Liberty can be extinguished in pursuit of freedom, depending on what is meant by ‘free’."

Gabi Strenger said:

"Freedom is a discharge from commitment. During summer vacations we are discharged from work.
If a teacher does not arrive for a class, the children have a “free” hour.
We are all familiar with the overwhelming joy of a sudden free hour.
Freedom is fun, it is a rest, but it entails neither growth nor creativity.

Liberty, however, is our ability to choose our own way within the framework of the limiting circumstances that life hands us –
such as our place of birth, socio-economic status, our appearance or our talents.
Liberty is not the freedom from commitment but the freedom to choose – within the confines of our commitments.

Liberty becomes a reality within an adult, creative life and it is particularly connected
to the responsibility that we take upon ourselves
and to our ability to accept the human condition with all its different dimensions, including illness and even death.

Our sages expressed this thought in a beautiful explanation of the verse in the Torah that describes the two tablets.
“And the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the Tablets” (Exodus 32:16).
Do not read harut – engraved, but herut – liberty (Mishna, Ethics of the Fathers, 6:2).

When we are searching for mere freedom, the “engravings” within us –
whether in our genes, or whether in our legal system –
seem to us to be massive obstacles.
However, when we seek liberty, herut, while we are making the effort to remove our Egyptian limitations,
we must simultaneously find creative ways to deal with what is harut “engraved” – the circumstances of our lives that we cannot change.

Liberty is not a children’s game and it was not given to us as a gift.
Liberty is achieved through our journey towards adulthood, through our struggles both within ourselves and within our environment.
The fruits of that liberty, which have been achieved through “the sweat of our brow,” are the ultimate in sweetness."

[Yosemitest]

One more reference for LIBERTY:

LIBERTY lib'-er-ti (deror, rachabh; eleutheria):

The opposite of servitude or bondage,
hence, applicable to captives or slaves set free from oppression (thus deror, Leviticus 25:10; Isaiah 61:1, etc.).
Morally, the power which enslaves is sin (John 8:34),
and liberty consists,
not simply in external freedom, or in possession of the formal power of choice,
but in deliverance from the darkening of the mind, the tyranny of sinful lusts and the enthrallment of the will, induced by a morally corrupt state.
In a positive respect, it consists in the possession of holiness, with the will and ability to do what is right and good.
Such liberty is possible only in a renewed condition of soul, and cannot exist apart from godliness.
Even under the Old Testament godly men could boast of a measure of such liberty (Psalms 119:45, rachabh, "room," "breadth"),
but it is the gospel of Christ which bestows it in its fullness,
in giving a full and clear knowledge of God, discovering the way of forgiveness, supplying the highest motives to holiness
and giving the Holy Spirit to destroy the power of sin and to quicken to righteousness.
In implanting a new life in the soul, the gospel lifts the believer out of the sphere of external law, and gives him a sense of freedom in his new filial relation to God.
Hence, the New Testament expressions about "the glorious liberty" of God's children (Romans 8:21 the King James Version;
compare Galatians 2:4; 5:13, etc.), about liberty as resulting from the possession of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17),
about "the perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25).
The instrument through which this liberty is imparted is "the truth" (John 8:32).
Christians are earnestly warned not to presume upon, or abuse their liberty in Christ (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16).

James Orri