livello

Forms

livello m (plural livelli)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun of livellare (“to level”), which comes from livella (“spirit level”).^[2][3][4][5] The tool's name is inherited from Latin lībella (“small balance; level”), a diminutive of lībra (“balance, scales”).^[2][3][6][1] Clemente Merlo, quoted by DELI, insisted that the noun is neither a masculine made from the feminine “livella” nor a direct derivative of it, but a noun formed from the verb.^[2] Wiktionary gives this view first and offers a Vulgar Latin *lībellus as the alternative, and Körting had already set up a Latin *libellus in place of the feminine.^[1][7] Medieval Latin livellum is recorded at Parma in 1255, in the phrase for the level of water.^[2]

The same Latin word gave Old French livel and nivel, modern French niveau, from which Spanish nivel was taken.^[3][6][7] Körting thought the change of the first consonant in French perhaps came from dissimilation of the two ⟨l⟩ sounds after the article.^[7]

Several modern phrases copy French: “allo stesso livello” answers to French au niveau, and “a livello di” “as regards” comes from au niveau de and spread in the 1970s.^[2] “Passaggio a livello”, a level crossing, is a calque of passage à niveau.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in Giorgio Barbaro, before 1494, for the surveyor's instrument used to find a horizontal line.^[2][4][3] The sense “free surface of a liquid” follows in Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1554–1565), three centuries after the Medieval Latin phrase ad livellum aque at Parma.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the surface of water the word passed to the height of any point above a surface and the height of one horizontal plane above another, recorded in Ludovico Antonio Muratori before 1750.^[2] Francesco Algarotti uses livello del mare, sea level, before 1764, and the noun for contour lines, curva di livello, belongs to the same surveying language.^[2][8]

The figurative sense “degree, importance” is recorded in the Milanese press in 1828.^[2] Tommaseo still warned against overusing trovarsi sul medesimo livello, which he thought too French.^[2] The phrase mettere tutti allo stesso livello, “to make no distinction of worth”, appears in Igino Ugo Tarchetti before 1869, and Luigi Einaudi wrote of transactions “at the so-called high levels” (ai cosidetti ‘alti livelli’) in 1956.^[2] Physics added the energy level of an electron in 1957.^[2]

Today the word also names a geological stratum, a horizontal gallery in a mine and a stage of a computer game.^[5][9][10]

Timeline

• 1255 – Medieval Latin ad livellum aque is recorded at Parma.^[2]
• Before 1494 – Giorgio Barbaro uses livello for a surveying instrument.^[2][4]
• 1554–1565 – Giovanni Battista Ramusio uses it for the surface of a liquid.^[2]
• Before 1750 – Ludovico Antonio Muratori uses it for height above a plane.^[2]
• Before 1764 – Francesco Algarotti writes livello del mare.^[2]
• 1828 – The figurative sense “degree, importance” appears in the Milanese press.^[2]
• 1956 – Luigi Einaudi uses alti livelli.^[2]
• 1957 – The energy level of physics is recorded.^[2]
• 1970s – A livello di becomes widespread.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The height of a point or horizontal plane in relation to another plane taken as reference: Il giardino è a un livello più basso della casa.^[4][5][9]
2. The height reached by the surface of a liquid, livello del mare, sea level: Dopo le piogge il livello del lago è cresciuto.^[4][8][11]
3. (figurative) The degree or standard of a quantity or quality: un livello di inquinamento preoccupante, un lavoro di alto livello.^[4][8][12]
4. (figurative) A position or rank in a social or organizational order: una riunione a livello ministeriale.^[4][9][11]
5. (geology) A stratum with its own recognizable features.^[5][9][8]
6. (mining) A horizontal gallery at one working depth of a mine.^[5][9][8]
7. (physics) Each of the discrete values the energy of a system, such as an electron in an atom, can take.^[2][5][10]
8. (surveying) An instrument for establishing horizontal lines of sight.^[4][12]
9. (video games) Each of the stages into which a game is divided.^[10]

Word family

• dislivello
• livelletta
• soprallivello
• sottolivello

Related words

• livella
• Latin libella
• French niveau

Usage notes

A livello di (“as regards, at the level of”) is common but was long criticized as a Gallicism.^[2][8] A second word livello, in the history of law, is a long agricultural lease of medieval Italy; it is Latin libellus (“little book”), because the contract was written in a small document, and it is recorded as libellu in the 13th century and as livello at Trento in 1476.^[2][3][13] DEI notes that the Latin word was used in Italian documents from the 9th century, and the derivative livellario, the tenant holding land on such a lease, appears before 1250.^[6][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2255
7. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 597