Assembly was a "high level" language when it was new -- it was far more abstract than entering in raw bytes. C was considered high level later on too, even though these days it is seen as "low level" -- everything is relative to what else is out there.

The same pattern held through the early days of "high level" languages that were compiled to assembly, and then the early days of higher level languages that were interpreted.

I think it's a very apt comparison.