libella

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lībella, diminutive of libra (“balance”). Doublet of level and niveau.

Noun

libella (plural libellas)

1. A small balance.
2. A level, or levelling instrument.

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: libellas, libellât

Verb

libella

1. third-person singular past historic of libeller

Latin

Etymology

From lībra +‎ -la.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /liːˈbel.la/, [lʲiːˈbɛlːʲä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /liˈbel.la/, [liˈbɛlːä]

Noun

lībella f (genitive lībellae); first declension

1. An as (the tenth part of a denarius)
2. A level (builder's tool)

Usage notes

• Used to represent a minute portion of money.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lībella	lībellae
Genitive	lībellae	lībellārum
Dative	lībellae	lībellīs
Accusative	lībellam	lībellās
Ablative	lībellā	lībellīs
Vocative	lībella	lībellae

Derived terms

• simbella

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *lībellus m
  • Catalan: llivell m (now dialectal)
  • Italian: livello m
  • Old French: livel, nyviel, nevel, nivel m (the probable source of all n- forms via dissimilation)
    • French: niveau m
      • → Danish: niveau n
      • → Dutch: niveau n
      • → German: Niveau n
      • → Norwegian Bokmål: nivå n
      • → Romanian: nivel n
      • → Swedish: nivå c
    • → Albanian: nivel
    • → Asturian: nivel m
    • → Catalan: nivell m
    • → Cornish: nivel
    • → Middle English: level
      • English: level
        • → Japanese: レベル (reberu)
          • → Korean: 레벨 (rebel)
    • → Esperanto: nivelo
    • → Galician: nivel m
    • → Ido: nivelo
    • → Romanian: nivel
    • → Portuguese: nível m
    • → Romansch: nivel, nivo m
    • → Spanish: nivel m
  • Romansch: livel m
  • Piedmontese: livel m
  • Sicilian: liveḍḍa f, liveḍḍu m
  • Venetian: łiveło m

References

• “libella”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “libella”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• libella in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• libella in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “libella”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “libella”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin