la English · revision 2611

+ English has two words spelled ''la'': an old interjection, a variant of [[lo]], and the musical note.^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /lɑː/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|interjection}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English|origins=ang lā}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The interjection is [[inh|enm|la]], northern Middle English,^(MWU 2024)^(MW Collegiate) [[inh|ang|lā]],^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) a variant of [[lo]].^(Etymonline) The SOED treats it as a natural exclamation.^(SOED 2002) Klein calls it imitative and compares the interjection [[law]].^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English, as an interjection of mild wonder, surprise or grief, “oh, ah, indeed”.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) The OED's first quotation for its later use is from 1598.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the late 16th century ''la'' introduced or accompanied a conventional phrase or called attention to an emphatic statement,^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989) and it was also used in derision from 1578, hence ''la-la'', “so-so”.^(OED 1989)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – an interjection of wonder or grief.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1578 – in derision.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1598 – introducing a phrase.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Interjection===

+ # ''(archaic)'' Used to express surprise or emphasis.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ {{homograph|2|musical note}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1325|origins=la labium}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The note is [[inh|enm|la]], [[bor|la-med|la]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) probably through Italian,^(Barnhart 1988) from the first syllable of Latin [[m|la|labiī|t=of the lip]], the word sung to this note in the hymn for the feast of St John the Baptist from which the note names were taken.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) See [[gamut]].^(AHD 2000)^(Barnhart 1988)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The sixth note of Guido d'Arezzo's hexachords: about 1325,^(OED 1989) before 1300 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) or the early 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In French and Italian ''la'' became the name of the note A, the sixth of the natural scale of C major.^(Etymonline) In tonic sol-fa the note is also spelled ''lah''.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1325 – the sixth note of the hexachord.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(music)'' The sixth note of a major [[scale]] in [[solmization]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lah]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lo]]

+ * [[do]]

+ * [[re]]

+ * [[mi]]

+ * [[fa]]

+ * [[sol]]

+ * [[ti]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''La'', the feminine French or Italian definite article, is sometimes put before a woman's name, ironically, as if she were a prima donna, from 1869.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}