niveau French · revision 15954

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1311, nivel|origins=la lībra}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ni.vo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''niveau''' ''m'' (plural niveaux)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Nivel'' (1311), ''nyviel'' (1339), ''nevel'' (1343); the older [[fro|livel]], ''liveau'' (13th–16th centuries) survives in Walloon and on Guernsey, ''niveau'' from 1530 (Palsgrave), usual from 1637.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an alteration of Old French [[m|fro|livel]], the initial ⟨l⟩ changed to ⟨n⟩ by dissimilation from the final ⟨l⟩,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|5, 294b) from [[la-vul|*libellus]], from classical [[la|lībella|t=level (instrument)]], a diminutive of [[m|la|lībra|t=balance; level]] (see [[livre]] “pound”).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Compare [[it|livello]]; [[es|nivel]] comes from Gallo-Romance.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi) [[en|level]] is from the old form “livel”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==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.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==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''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) 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''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Figuratively Descartes (1637) adjusts his opinions ''au niveau de la raison'', and La Bruyère (1688) uses ''niveau'' for social rank;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Condillac took it into economics (1776), whence ''niveau de vie'' (1932).^(DHLF 1992) 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.^(DHLF 1992) The verb ''niveler'' dates from 1339.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – ''Livel''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1311 – ''Nivel''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1339 – ''Nyviel'', ''niveler''.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1429 – ''Mettre a nivel''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1546 – ''Au nyueau du paué''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1637 – Figurative use in Descartes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1688 – Social rank, in La Bruyère.^(TLFi)

+ * 1932 – ''Niveau de vie''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|level]] (instrument): ''niveau à bulle'', ''niveau de maçon''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Height, level: ''le niveau de la mer'', ''le niveau d'eau'', ''de niveau'': level, ''au niveau de'': level with.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A floor, storey: ''parking à trois niveaux''.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Standard, degree: ''niveau de vie'', ''le niveau des élèves'', ''mise à niveau''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Passage à niveau'': level crossing.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(video games)'' A level.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[niveler]]

+ * [[niveleur]]

+ * [[niveleuse]]

+ * [[nivellement]]

+ * [[dénivellation]]

+ * [[niveler]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[livre]]

+ * [[la|lībella]]

+ * [[en|level]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}