I've come across phrases like "What price freedom?" a lot. I speak British English and it doesn't read nicely to me. It seems some words are missing. Does it mean "What is the price of X?"? Where did this phrase originate from and why is it used in this way?
Learn English – What does “What price [noun]?” mean
idiomsmeaningphrases
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Best Answer
Various dictionaries have different things to say.
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed.)
(Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged)
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs)
(New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition, from OS X)
Apart from Collins's strange definition, it seems that the general meaning of "what price X?" is "what's the value of X?" (not "what's the price of X", in the modern sense of price).
As for how it came to be, my wild speculation of the day is that it could have been used grammatically in an anaphoric expression, eg What price is freedom to us if we tolerate this tyranny? What price justice? etc.