The term "leveling" is how to understand?

From where did this strange word penetrate into Russian - "level"? Now the media is full of this term. But sometimes its meaning changes from positive to negative, and vice versa. For example: "The military conflict leveled the value of human life." In this case, the term is used as a clearly negative one. That is, the value of the individual as such is destroyed. But is it possible to equate the terms "leveling" and "liquidating"? In another case, we read: "The fall of the dollar was offset by investment infusions." Here the term means "smooth". Leveling means also neutralizing some negative processes. And completely at a dead end puts us technical literature. It turns out that geodesists and builders are actively engaged in leveling. And they do it with the help of a certain device. It is called - the level. On the origin of the term, its various meanings and instances of use, read this article.

French-Russian metamorphosis

Some researchers believe that "leveling" is a German word. But it got to us through the French. In the homeland of the Musketeers, the strict term nivellieren, which meant "align", began to be used very widely. So, there were two main models of use. The first was very close to niveau - "water level". The term meant calculating the difference from some landmark - for example, the ocean level. The second word - "niveler" presupposed "smoothing, elimination of differences, roughness". In the Russian language, a Slavic ending was attached to the foreign root, and the term began to be exploited in both meanings. Hence the confusion arose. Well, now let's figure out what it means to level.

Technical term

In geography and geodesy, the word "level" is a very unambiguous term, devoid of all enigmatic ambiguity. It involves a process that results in the calculation of the height difference relative to any selected landmark. Most often, such a starting point is the level of the World Ocean. You can level with different instruments: a theodolite and a tacheometer, a barometer and hydrostatically connected vessels, echo sounders and radar. Builders when leveling the site for the building are guided not by the sea level, but by a certain cornerstone. With the help of a level and slats, they make a geometrical study of the terrain in order to reveal the difference in heights.

Leveling is to smooth out

What do builders do when it turns out that they will have to build a house on an incline? That's right, they align this area. Rip off the ground from a high point and fall asleep on a low level. So instead of the usual slope you get an even terrace. From builders, the word migrated into a conversational language. It means "smooth out negative differences", "eliminate unnecessary discrepancies." What synonyms or sayings carry the same meaning? This and "come to a common denominator in the dispute" (to smooth the contradictions in the discussion with the help of compromise mutual concessions). The word is also used as a synonym for the word "alignment". It is also used in a negative way. Here is a simple example: "Inflation neutralizes the growth of wages". Here is close in meaning the saying "sewed on soap".

The leveling is to depersonalize

In colloquial speech, the term took on a completely radical meaning. Elimination of differences in the height difference at the construction site has grown into the destruction of individual traits, depersonalization. The term carries a pronounced negative semantic load. It is used as a synonym for "leveling". For example: "Globalization levels national cultural differences". In Russian there are many sayings that accurately convey the meaning of this concept. Here, and "cut one size fits all", and "sum up under one rank", and "fit under one color." In contrast to the maxim "Effective measures of the Ministry of Emergency Measures leveled the consequences of a natural disaster for the population", this meaning of the term can never be used in a positive way.

Zero and destroy

And what about the "leveling of the value of human life" mentioned earlier? Here the term acquires a new meaning. In this case, "leveling" the value has to "reduce to zero", "destroy". Here the synonym is the term "liquidate", but smoothly, progressively. Here is a simple example: "During the decade of the reign of the current regime, there has been a significant leveling of rights and freedoms." That is, rather, it is about depreciation. But not all destruction is negative. In the key of "elimination" such leveling can be used as a progressive positive process. It is possible to give an example: "Appointed to the post of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mr. imyarek is called upon to neutralize the negative image of the militia among the people." As you can see, the term is multi-valued, and you need to use it with the mind.