Everyone has heard more than once the expression "a la". This adverb, came from the French language, is written in the original language: Ă la. But I wonder what does "a la" mean? Used before the noun in the nominative case. In book and colloquial speech, it also means a synonym for words: as if, akin to, like, like, in the manner of someone, something, as if, according to a pattern, like, similar. Also used as a culinary term.
Five-minute historical
The etymology of this expression is interesting. When did it come into Russian? Judging by the logic of using "a la" in many "old" texts, we can conclude that this phrase penetrated into Russian speech in the 18-19 centuries. At that time, all the nobles spoke French. From the second half of the 18th century, it was customary to hire French tutors to educate and educate children from wealthy families. Fashion for everything French was not only in Russia, but also in Europe. Imitating their masters, the servants who served in wealthy families gradually introduced several French expressions into their everyday life.
How to spell correctly: together, separately or through a hyphen
How to spell: "a la", "ala" or "a la"?
According to the version of the Russian language reference and information portal - Gramota.ru, which is a reliable source, the expression "a la" is written with a hyphen.
Versions why are hyphenated
There are two options why some foreign words are hyphenated:
- In the Russian language there is such a category as opposing unions (for example: a, but, yes, but, however). And in order not to confuse this lexico-grammatical unit with the word “a la”, which came from the French language, according to the rules you need to write “a” through a hyphen. Without a hyphen, the meaning of the word "a la" is lost, for example: "He played not a note before, but a la";
- Spelling of foreign words (this is specifically about this case): expressions that retain their sound and foreign-language “appearance” are transmitted with the closest possible approximation to the French language.
Examples of use of the expression
Examples of culinary use: “Cook a la meat in French” - that is, similar to the dish “Meat in French”.
In the book “Wizards of Parisian Fashion”, 2012 edition, the author is Annie Latour or in the book “The Noise of Time” by Osip Mandelstam, 1925, we can meet the phrase “a la”. This means that this expression is popular at all times, and in the 20th century eminent authors used it in their manuscripts, and in modern literature it is often found. So why do writers use this expression without replacing it with familiar Russian words? "A la" allows you to more clearly and succinctly express the idea of ​​the author.