From Glover'ssolmization, fromMiddle Englishla(“sixth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”),Italianla in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable ofLatinlabiī(“lip's”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymnUt queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.
And now Mrs Waters (for we must confess she was in the same bed), being, I suppose, awakened from her sleep, and seeing two men fighting in her bedchamber, began to scream in the most violent manner, crying out murder! robbery! and more frequently rape! which last, some, perhaps, may wonder she should mention, who do not consider that these words of exclamation are used by ladies in a fright, as fa,la, la, ra, da, &c., are in music, only as the vehicles of sound, and without any fixed ideas.
"La la la la, I can't hear you!" Jimmy said, sticking his fingers in his ears.
2019, Keira Brown,Between the Lines: Never in Plain Sight:
The only part Lucy had to sing was the interlude, which was a bunch ofla la la's, and the last verse of the song, which was only four lines, and the chorus, which was just as short.
La, ma'am, what doth your la'ship think? the girl that your la'ship saw at church on Sunday, whom you thought so handsome; though you would not have thought her so handsome neither, if you had seen her nearer, but to be sure she hath been carried before the justice for being big with child.
2007 November 22, Kate Carter, “Graziawatch”, inThe Guardian[2]:
Following lukewarm on the heels of an article a few weeks ago, where (I paraphrase due to having filed the relevant copy in the recycling bin) Victoria Beckham made a "well-meaning" remark that the other Spice Girls might want to lose a few pounds, we now have a new incidence ofLa Beckham's scintillating and entirely well-meaning humour.
By judicious leaking, he also managed to makela Kirkpatrick and her associates look rather unsavory.
2025 June 21,Jo Ellison, “The Bezos merger we all want a piece of”, inFT Weekend, Life & Arts, page22:
(You have to wonder wherela Wintour finds the time for all this styling: maybe it's a displacement activity to fill the void left by her failure to get the Democratic party into power?)
The articlela contracts tol' before a word beginning witha orha:l'asturiana (the Asturian),l'habitación (the habitation), because it ends with anA already
The articlela is contracted tol' before a vowel orh, except before a following unstressedI orU sounds, as in la universitat, la idea, and la oliva. Note: UnstressedO sounds like aU.
1 The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’,à,pour,chez,dans,vers,sur,sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied. 2Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun. 3On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms). 4 The nominal indeterminate formce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verbêtre as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms. 5 The reflexive third person singular forms (se ors’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive. 6Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonicvous-mêmes becomes singularvous-même. 7Ils,eux andeux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.
This article is used only after a word that ends with anoral (non-nasal) vowel and an oral consonant, in that order, and when it modifies a singular noun.
(for emphasis):la in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
(syllable used when singing):la in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
(alternative form oflá, used in solfège):la in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
(used inà la, cf.à):la in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
Grammatically third person forms used semantically in the second person as a formal or polite way of addressing someone (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
6
Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
7
Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with Frenchvous).
8
Traditional grammars still indicate the formsegli (animate),ello /ella (animate),esso /essa and their plurals as the nominative forms of the third person pronouns; outside of very formal or archaizing contexts, all such forms have been replaced by the obliqueslui,lei,loro.
9
Forms used when followed by a third-person direct object proclitic (lo,la,li,le, orne).
10
Used after verbs.
11
Unstressed forms, stand alone forms are found proclitically (except dativeloro /Loro), others enclitically (-mi,-ti, etc.).
12
Disjunctive, emphatic oblique forms used as direct objects placed after verbs, in exclamations, along prepositions (prepositional) and some adverbs (come,quanto, etc.); also used witha to create alternative emphatic dative forms.
Kurabe, Keita (31 December 2016), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, inKyoto University Linguistic Research[4], volume35,→DOI,→ISSN, pages91–128
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the criticaltonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Kak la marabay, Səmon kona aŋa Yuhana, kà uwanadzaasik à uwana apə̀hakala dziriga uwaga aw, ama Baba gulo uwanalazagəla la afik la uwana apə̀hakala uwaga.(Mata 16:17)[1]
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you,butmy Father who is in heaven.(Matthew 16:17)
FromLatinlabii, from the first word of the sixth line ofUt queant laxis, the medieval hymn on whichsolfège was based because its lines started on each note of the scale successively. ThroughItalian.
From a form ofProto-Celtic*letos(“side”), from whichleth, which could be related to*ɸletos(“side”). However, compareLatinlatus. The sense“in the language of” is asemantic loan fromLatinapud and is perhaps encountered only in glosses of the Latin construction.
Oskar Kolberg (1877), “la”, in “Rzecz o mowie ludu wielkopolskiego”, inZbiór wiadomości do antropologii krajowéj (in Polish), volume 1, III (Materyjały etnologiczne), page19
Oskar Kolberg (1877), “la”, in “Rzecz o mowie ludu wielkopolskiego”, inZbiór wiadomości do antropologii krajowéj (in Polish), volume 1, III (Materyjały etnologiczne), page27
Ana-Maria Iorga Mihail (June2013), “Relevanța tipologică a trăsăturii[±animat] în realizarea prepozițională a dativului din construcția ditranzitivă [The typological relevance of the trait[±animate] in the prepositional realisation of the dative in the ditransitive construction]”, inLimba română[5] (in Romanian), volume62, number 2,Bucharest:Romanian Academy, page174
This article is nowadays an obsolete variant, unlike its illiquid counterparta. It is currently used only in some restricted areas where it is still withheld in conversational communications.
Today it is mostly used in crystallized contexts, such as singing, poetry or sayings and proverbs. In all these cases this definite article is more euphonetic than the variants, now predominant, which have undergone the lenition of the initial liquid consonant.
Its use is however almost undisputed before nouns (or nominalized forms of other parts of speech, most often adjectives) that begin with vowels. In this case the form is an apocopicl'. Otherwise, illiquid definite articles are phonetically absorbed by the following noun. I.e:l'arancina (liquid) andârancina (illiquid).
This pronoun is now an obsolete variant. It is currently used only in some restricted areas where it is still withheld in conversational communications.
Today it is mostly used in crystallized contexts, such as singing, poetry or sayings and proverbs. In all these cases this definite article is more euphonetic than the variants, now predominant, which have undergone the lenition of the initial liquid consonant.
Its use is however almost undisputed before words that begin with vowels. In this case the form is an apocopicl'.
2025 June 20, Randi Kaye and David von Blohn, “El ICE renueva acuerdo con el centro de detención que, según la agencia, no cumplía las normas”, inCNN en Español[6]:
En un correo electrónico, el ICE dijo a CNN que había determinado que Glades puede ayudar a “despejarla acumulación” de inmigrantes indocumentados en el país.
Sometimes used where English would prefer a possessive:tengo algo enla bolsa(literally“I have something in the bag”) as opposed totengo algo enmi bolsa(“I have something in my bag”). This is especially true with body parts and with articles of clothing or similar accessories.
Where a feminine noun begins withstressedIPA(key): /a/,el is used instead:el alma,el águila,el hacha. The article remainsla where an adjective intervenes between the article and the noun:la majestuosa águila. The plural remainslas.
Like other masculine words, masculine pronouns can be used when the gender of the subject is unknown or when the subject is plural and of mixed gender.
Treated as if it were third person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity.
Ifle orles precedeslo,la,los, orlas in a clause, it is replaced withse (e.g.se lo dije instead of*le lo dije).
Used primarily in Spain.
Only used in certain circumstances and rarely as a subject pronoun.
^Baldi, Sergio (30 November 2020),Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Handbuch der Orientalistik; Erste Abteilung: Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten;145), Leiden • Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page268 Nr. 2511
Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Opper (2017)'sPhonological Contrast in Bai cited Jiànchuān Baila˦/⁴⁴ "to yell, to curse" from Xú & Zhào (1984).”
