la

Forms

la (+accusative)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin illāc (“that way, there”), an adverb that took on the role of a preposition.^[2][1] Ciorănescu and Tiktin start from a strengthened compound of this adverb and the preposition ad (“to”), formed like până from paene and the same preposition; this goes back to Meyer-Lübke and is followed by Pușcariu, the REW and Candrea–Densusianu.^[3][4][5] The REW notes that the Latin adverb became a preposition in some Italian dialects too.^[6] Cihac proposed a different account in 1870: the old preposition ⟨a⟩ with an l- added to make it fuller.^[7]

The preposition exists in Aromanian, Megleno- and Istro-Romanian with the same form.^[3][5] Ciorănescu notes that it has almost entirely replaced the old preposition a, whose uses it took over, including a dative with this preposition beside the dative with the article.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1471, in a Slavonic document with Romanian words.^[4] In Romanian texts it is common in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century, from the first verse of Psalm 1 on.^[8] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The core senses are place and direction: movement towards a place or person, the place where something is, and the limit reached in space.^[9][3] From these come time (la nouă “at nine”), purpose (la vânătoare “hunting”), cause, manner, the instrument (la pian) and the indirect object.^[9][3]

With a numeral it means “about”: Ciorănescu quotes a document of 1610 with la opt ani “some eight years”.^[3] Before a noun without an article it marks a large or repeated quantity: Tiktin quotes să scoață la bani “to pay out a lot of money”.^[4][9] In compound prepositions it forms de la “from” and pe la “around, by”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1471 – first record, in a Slavonic document.^[4]
• early 16th century – common in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2]
• 1610 – la opt ani “about eight years”, the approximate sense, in a document.^[3]

Meanings

Preposition

1. to, towards: the goal or direction of a movement: S-a dus la doctor.^[9][1]
2. Up to: the limit reached in space: Zăpada îi ajungea la genunchi.^[9]
3. At a distance of: Stă la zece metri de noi.^[9]
4. at, in: the place where something happens: Locuiesc la țară.^[9][1]
5. At a time or on an occasion: Ne vedem la sfârșitul lunii.;^[9] la mulți ani! “many happy returns!”^[9]
6. Every so often: o dată la trei luni “once every three months”.^[9]
7. For a purpose: Au plecat la pescuit.^[9]
8. At, because of: Se speria la orice umbră.^[9]
9. In a manner or by a measure: la galop, ouăle se vând la bucată.^[9]
10. On an instrument: Cântă la vioară.^[9]
11. Introducing an indirect object: Nu răspunde la mesaje.^[9]
12. Before a noun without an article, a large quantity; before a number, about: Veniseră la vreo sută de oameni.^[9]

Related words

• până
• Latin illāc

Usage notes

The musical note A, the sixth degree of the C major scale, is borrowed from Italian la, recorded from 1839.^[9][2] The verb la “to wash, especially the head” is inherited from Latin lavō; it is now popular or regional, and Ciorănescu thinks it began losing ground in the 16th century to its derivative spăla.^[3][9] The DA notes that Coresi already replaced it with spăla in his book of sermons.^[10] It is recorded from the Hurmuzaki Psalter, and the Aromanian verb is lau.^[2][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1300
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. la
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. la 2
5. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 81
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4265
7. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 136
8. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 1:1
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 573
10. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. la 3
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 575