nonsense refrain in songs, probably from Old English la, a common exclamation; but la-la is imitative of babbling speech in many languages (compare Greek lalage "babble, prattle," Sanskrit lalalla "imitation of stammering" Latin lallare "to sing to sleep, lull," German lallen "to stammer," Lithuanian laluoti "to stammer").[la-la etymology, la-la origin, 英语词源]