nivel

Forms

nivel n (plural niveluri)^[1] Older forms are nivelă and nivoă (feminine) and nivo, which Asachi used: „Fir-plumb și nivo (cumpăna)” “plumb line and level (the balance)”.^[2][3]

Etymology

DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and the DLR treat it as a back-formation from Romanian nivela (“to level”).^[4][3][5][2] The verb is from French niveler.^[6][7] Ciorănescu and Wiktionary instead hold that it is borrowed from French niveau, reshaped after nivela and the other derivatives;^[8][1][9] DN gives the verb and compares the French noun.^[8][1][9] The DLR derives the old form nivo straight from the French noun.^[2] The French noun is an alteration of Old French livel, from Vulgar Latin *libellus, from Latin libella (“a level”), a diminutive of lībra (“balance”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in I. Golescu's Condica limbii rumânești, a manuscript of about 1832, which also has the verb.^[3][5][6] The earliest sense was the instrument for finding the horizontal, which Asachi called nivo and glossed cumpăna.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the instrument the word passed to the height of a point or surface measured against a horizontal plane, nivelul mării “sea level”, and to curbă de nivel “contour line” on maps.^[2][4] Figuratively it came to mean a stage or degree of development; Șăineanu's example is nivelul inteligenței, and nivel de trai “standard of living” is a set phrase.^[11][2] The newest sense is “storey, floor” of a building, which Dimitrescu records in the press and in the dictionary of neologisms of 1965.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – nivel and nivela in I. Golescu's Condica.^[3][5]
• 1875 – nivelu, glossed with French niveau, in Antonescu's dictionary.^[14]
• 1886 – nivel “water level” and nivelă “spirit level” in Barcianu.^[15]
• 1965 – the sense “storey”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The height of a point, line or surface relative to a given horizontal plane: nivelul mării “sea level”, curbă de nivel “contour line”, pasaj de nivel “level crossing”.^[4][3]
2. An instrument for finding the horizontal or measuring differences of height, a spirit level (also nivelă).^[4][1]
3. (figurative) A stage, degree or rank of development: nivel de trai “standard of living”.^[4][3]
4. A storey of a building.^[3][12]

Related words

• nivela
• French niveau

Usage notes

The plural is niveluri for the height and the figurative sense, nivele for the instrument.^[4] In the sense “storey” the press also uses nivele.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nivel
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 159
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 718
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nivel
6. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 160
7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nivela
8. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. nivel
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. nivel
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 432
12. ^ a b c d Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. nivel
13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. nivel
14. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 205
15. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 428