libella

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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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 libra +‎ -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. 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: *libellus m
  • → Albanian: nivel
  • Catalan: nivell m
  • → Esperanto: nivelo
  • Galician: nivel m
  • → Ido: nivelo
  • Italian: livello m
  • Old French: livel, nyviel, nevel, nivel m
    • French: niveau m
      • → Danish: niveau n
      • → Dutch: niveau n
      • → German: Niveau n
      • → Norwegian: nivå n
      • → Romanian: nivel n
      • → Swedish: nivå c
    • → Middle English: level
      • English: level
        • → Japanese: レベル (reberu)
          • → Korean: 레벨 (rebel)
    • → Portuguese: nível m
    • → Romansch: nivel, livel, nivo m
    • → Spanish: nivel 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