libella

English

Etymology

Latin, diminutive of libra (“balance”). Doublet of level.

Noun

libella (plural libellas)

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

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “libella” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: libellas, libellât

Verb

libella

1. third-person singular past historic of libeller

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Latin

Etymology

From lībra +‎ -la.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

lībella f (genitive lībellae); first declension

1. An as (the tenth part of a denarius)
2. 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

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
    • → Portuguese: nível m
    • → Romanian: nivel 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