Etymologically
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niveau

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 21:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ni.vo/[1]

Forms

niveau m (plural niveaux)[1] Nivel (1311), nyviel (1339), nevel (1343); the older Old French livel, liveau (13th–16th centuries) survives in Walloon and on Guernsey, niveau from 1530 (Palsgrave), usual from 1637.[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is an alteration of Old French livel, the initial ⟨l⟩ changed to ⟨n⟩ by dissimilation from the final ⟨l⟩,[5][2][3][4][6] from Vulgar Latin *libellus, from classical Latin lībella (“level (instrument)”), a diminutive of lībra (“balance; level”) (see livre “pound”).[5][2][3]

Compare Italian livello; Spanish nivel comes from Gallo-Romance.[3][5] English level is from the old form “livel”.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Lille cartulary of 1339 has nyviel for the instrument used to find the horizontal, Bloch and Wartburg date nivel to 1311.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word came to mean the height of a horizontal plane relative to another: mettre a nivel (1429), au nivel du pavé (1546), whence de niveau and au niveau de.[5][2][7] Later technical uses include niveau d'eau (1868), niveau à bulle, passage à niveau and, about 1965, a floor of a building, probably after English level.[2][1]

Figuratively Descartes (1637) adjusts his opinions au niveau de la raison, and La Bruyère (1688) uses niveau for social rank;[5][2] Condillac took it into economics (1776), whence niveau de vie (1932).[2] In the 20th century it became a measured degree of ability (niveau mental, 1941), a niveau de langue in linguistics, and the vague au niveau de “as regards”, criticised as jargon.[2] The verb niveler dates from 1339.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 13th century – Livel.[8]
  • 1311 – Nivel.[3]
  • 1339 – Nyviel, niveler.[5][3]
  • 1429 – Mettre a nivel.[5]
  • 1546 – Au nyueau du paué.[7]
  • 1637 – Figurative use in Descartes.[5]
  • 1688 – Social rank, in La Bruyère.[5]
  • 1932 – Niveau de vie.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A level (instrument): niveau à bulle, niveau de maçon.[9][1]
  2. Height, level: le niveau de la mer, le niveau d'eau, de niveau: level, au niveau de: level with.[10][9]
  3. A floor, storey: parking à trois niveaux.[10][2]
  4. Standard, degree: niveau de vie, le niveau des élèves, mise à niveau.[10][1]
  5. Passage à niveau: level crossing.[1]
  6. (video games) A level.[1]

Word family

  • niveler
  • niveleur
  • niveleuse
  • nivellement
  • dénivellation
  • niveler

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 294b
  7. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)