la

la¹ the; her, it

Etymology tree of la¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ille

French elle

French le

French leur

Italian gli

Italian il

Italian la

Italian le

From the same root · la¹

Latin illic ← ille

French lequel ← le

Pronunciation

• /la/^[1]
• Dialectal: /a/^[1]

Forms

la f sg (plural le)^[1]

Etymology

The article and pronoun is inherited from Latin illa (“that”), the feminine of the demonstrative ⟨ille⟩ “that”, in its nominative ⟨illa⟩ and accusative ⟨illam⟩.^[2][3][4][1] The demonstrative was already used in “weakened” ways in classical Latin, and its value as an article appears in medieval charters from northern Italy from the 8th century.^[2] According to Rohlfs, the weakening of ⟨ille⟩ to an article shows in the Vulgate as a transitional usage and more clearly from the 6th century, perhaps encouraged by the Greek article.^[5]

The same feminine form gave the articles French la, Occitan la, Catalan la, Spanish la and Portuguese a and the suffixed article Romanian -a.^[6][7] Sardinian alone took its article from Latin ipse instead.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pronoun is recorded first, in the Memoratorium of Teano of 963.^[2][3] DELI's first record of the article is the Ritmo laurenziano of the late 12th century, benedicente bascio la mano (“blessing, I kiss the hand”), in the reading accepted by Arrigo Castellani;^[2] Gianfranco Contini had removed the word from the verse, which is one syllable too long.^[2] Nocentini and Sabatini–Coletti date the article to the 11th century.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

As an object pronoun la refers back to a feminine person or thing, and also serves as the polite form of address, even to a man (La prego, written with a capital in letters).^[4][8][9] Without a clear referent it stands for an unnamed “thing, matter” in many idioms, such as chi la fa l'aspetti “what goes around comes around” and me la pagherai “you'll pay for this”.^[8][9] In Tuscan and northern speech it is also a weak subject pronoun, as in Manzoni's la c'è, la c'è (“it is there, it is there”).^[8][9]

The article before a woman's name or surname (la Duse) is recorded from the 14th century.^[10][11] French took it in the 17th century before the names of Italian stars and prima donnas, and English La is recorded in the same use from 1869, later also ironically before the name of any woman.^[10]

Timeline

• 8th century – The article is used in Latin charters from northern Italy.^[2]
• 963 – The pronoun is recorded in the Memoratorium of Teano.^[2][3]
• Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has the article in bascio la mano.^[2]
• 14th century – The article is used before women's names.^[10]
• c. 17th century – French uses la before the name of an Italian star.^[10]
• 1869 – English La is first recorded before the name of a prima donna.^[10]

Meanings

Article

1. The, before feminine singular nouns; elided to l’ before a vowel: la casa, l'isola.^[3][4][12]
2. Before a woman's surname, the name of a famous woman, or (regional, colloquial) a woman's first name: la Deledda, la Silvia.^[3][8][12]
3. With a comparative, forming the relative superlative: la più bella.^[3][12]

Pronoun

1. (object) her, it.^[4][8][1]
2. (formal) You, as the polite object pronoun, also to a man (often written La).^[4][8][1]
3. In idioms, standing for an unnamed thing or matter.^[8][9]
4. (regional, Tuscany and northern Italy) A weak subject pronoun: she, it.^[8][9]

la² musical note

Pronunciation

• /ˈla/^[1]

Forms

la m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

The musical note is borrowed from Medieval Latin la, the sixth of the syllables with which Guido d'Arezzo (c. 995–1050) named the notes of the scale.^[2][6][3] He took them from the first syllables of the half-lines of the hymn to Saint John the Baptist, “Ut queant laxis resonare fibris”, whose melody rises by one note at the start of each half-line.^[6][2] “La” is the first syllable of ⟨labii reatum⟩ “the guilt of the lip”, from Latin labium (“lip”), in the third line, “Solve polluti labii reatum” (“remove the guilt from the unclean lip”).^[6][3][11] The other names are fa, mi, re, sol and the later si and do.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is in Niccolò Machiavelli, before 1527, in a list of the sung syllables: e' ti spicca un “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la” (“he rattles off an ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la at you”).^[2][3][13] DIFIT cites an earlier musical record of 1508.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The syllable names stayed in use in the Romance-speaking countries, while German and English name the note with the letter A.^[14][1] French la is recorded about 1223, three centuries before the first Italian record.^[10] The note is today the A of 440 hertz given by the tuning fork, used to tune voices and instruments,^[13] which explains the phrase dare il la “to give the A”, figuratively “to set the tone, to start something off”.^[9][3]

German has used La for the note since 1732, and had in 1650 Lami (la + mi) for a dissonant sequence of notes.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – French la is recorded.^[10]
• 1508 – A musical text has la.^[10]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli lists ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la.^[2][3]
• 1650 – German Lami is recorded.^[10]
• 1732 – German La is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) The sixth note of the natural major scale of C; A: la bemolle, la minore.^[3][1]
2. (music) The string or key of an instrument that gives this note.^[3][9]
3. (music) The key whose tonic is this note: sonata in la minore.^[3][1]

Word family

• la maggiore
• la minore