Everyone has heard the expression "a la" more than once. This adverb, which came from French, is written in the original language: à la. But I wonder what "a-la" means? Used before a noun in the nominative case. In book and colloquial speech, it means a synonym for the words: as if, akin to, like, like, in the manner of someone, as if, according to the model, like, similar. Also used as a culinary term.
Historical Five Minutes
The etymology of this expression is interesting. When did it come to Russian? Judging by the logic of the use of "a-la" in many "old" texts, we can conclude that this phrase penetrated 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 we althy families. The fashion for everything French was not only in Russia, but also in Europe. In imitation of their masters, servants who served in we althy families gradually introduced several French expressions into their everyday life.
How to spell correctly: together, separately or with a hyphen
How to spell: "a-la","ala" or "a la"?
According to the reference and information portal "Russian Language" - "Gramota.ru", which is a reliable source, the expression "a-la" is written with a hyphen.
Versions why is hyphenated
There are two possible reasons why some foreign words are hyphenated:
- In Russian there is such a category as adversative conjunctions (for example: a, but, yes, but, however). And in order not to confuse this lexical and grammatical unit with the word "a la" that 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" will be lost, for example: "He played not a note to, but la";
- Spelling foreign words (we are talking specifically about this case): expressions that retain their sound and foreign "look" are transmitted as close as possible to French.
Examples of using the expression
Examples of use in cooking: "Let's cook a la meat in French" - that is, similar to the dish "Meat in French".
In the book "Magicians of Parisian Fashion", 2012 edition, by 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. Sowhy do writers use this expression without replacing it with familiar Russian words? "A-la" allows you to more clearly and concisely express the author's thought.
