nivel

Forms

nivel m (plural niveles)^[1]

Etymology

It is a borrowing of the mid-15th century, probably borrowed from Catalan nivell, which was livell in the Middle Ages.^[2][3] Prat Sabater accepts the Catalan origin on the grounds of the word's derivation and of its field, building.^[4] The DLE derives it instead from Occitan nivel, and Wiktionary from Catalan or from Old French nivel (also livel).^[5][1][6]

The Romance word goes back to Vulgar Latin *libellum, a variant of Latin libella (“level, plumb line”), the diminutive of libra (“balance; pound”).^[2][6] The initial /l/ became /n/ in several Romance languages, probably by dissimilation from the second /l/.^[6] The same Latin word gave Italian livella and French niveau, and English level has the same source.^[7][1] In Latin the word was also a small silver coin worth a tenth of a denarius.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to the middle of the 15th century.^[2] The CDH has nibel in a poem of Suero de Ribera, in a copy of 1460–1463.^[9] The Madrid council records of 1464–1485 use it in the builder's sense, of a bridge beam to be raised so that it lies level: „que quede por nivel”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the builder's instrument and the level line it gives: Nebrija has nivel “in building” and Covarrubias (1611) calls it a mason's tool, from Latin libella.^[10][11] The Diccionario de Autoridades described the common form, a right-angled triangle of laths with a plumb line, and added the flatness of the ground and, figuratively, perfect equality.^[12] The Academy's 1899 edition added the height that the surface of a liquid reaches.^[13] The modern senses of degree, standard and rank (nivel de vida “standard of living”, a high or low level of culture) are figurative extensions of height.^[5][3][14] In much of Latin America nivel is also a floor of a building, especially a shopping centre.^[15]

Timeline

• 1460–1463 – nibel in a poem of Suero de Ribera.^[9]
• 1464–1485 – the Madrid council records use it of a bridge beam set level.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin amussis for the builder's level.^[10]
• 1495 – the verb nivelar.^[2]
• 1571 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it a mason's instrument.^[11]
• 1719 – the derivative desnivel.^[2]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the level of a liquid.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The height that something reaches or at which it is placed: El agua llegó al nivel de las ventanas.^[5][1]
2. Horizontality.^[5]
3. A measure of a quantity on a given scale: un nivel alto de colesterol.^[5]
4. Category, rank.^[5][1]
5. A level, spirit level: an instrument for checking whether two points are at the same height.^[5][1]
6. The degree reached by an aspect of social life: el nivel económico de la región.^[5]
7. Equality or equivalence.^[5]
8. (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina) A floor of a building, especially of a shopping centre.^[15]

Word family

• nivelar
• nivelación
• desnivel

Related words

• libra
• libélula
• Catalan nivell
• English level

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nivel
3. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 371
4. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 366
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. nivel
6. ^ a b c Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. nivel
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5014
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. libella
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. nivel
10. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. nivel
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1165
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 670
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 694
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nivel
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. nivel
16. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. nivel