Yes, “Hala” is an expression that is mostly used during chaotic situations, it’s similar to (“Oh my God”) in English… (It could also mean, “you’re in trouble”, depending on the context of the statement).
- (“Hala!, gumigiba ang gusali”) = (“Oh my God!, the building is collapsing”).
This expression could have originated from the Islamic expression (“Ya Allah”) which translates to (“Oh God”)… This is because pre-colonial Filipinos have been influenced by Islam prior to colonization.
- The modern Filipino word for thank you (“Salamat”) was originally a greeting of Islamic origin, but the meaning of this word had obviously changed over time, and this may have also been the case with the expression (“Hala”).
I’ve also discovered that there is also a Spanish term (“Ojala”) which is derived from the Arabic term, (“Ma sha Allah”), this is because most of what is now Spain was once under Islamic rule… this could also be another possible word of origin for the Filipino term (Hala).
- It must be noted that in Spanish (“J”) is pronounced as (“H”) so (Ojala = Ohala).
I would like to remind people that these are only my speculation about the origin of the Filipino expression (“Hala”).
