more specifically, the Old English demonstrative
se, which functioned
both as a demonstrative with the meaning ‘that’ and as the equivalent
to present-day English ‘the’, played a crucial role. Furthermore, this
demonstrative had a full range of case forms, except that there is no
gender distinction in the plural. Here is the paradigm of the demon-
strative:
Masculine
Neuter
Feminine
Plural
Nom.
se
t
æt
se¯o
t
a¯
Acc.
t
one
t
æt
t
a¯
t
a¯
Gen.
t
æs
t
æs
t
æ¯re
t
a¯ra
Dat.
t
æ¯m
t
æ¯m
t
æ¯re
t
æ¯m
A couple of footnotes are necessary here. Firstly, although I have marked
the length of the long vowels, this is variable, and they would shorten in
unemphatic contexts, just like demonstratives today. Secondly, demon-
stratives have an additional case, which is called the
instrumental case.
It only shows itself in the masculine and neuter singular, having the
shape
†
y¯. Elsewhere in the paradigm the dative form is used instead. The
instrumental is of mixed origin, but it suffices to say that in Old English
it is thoroughly confused with the dative which tends to replace it.
The most important point, however, remains the fact if what we may,
with some licence, call the definite article, is associated with a noun, then
the degree of uncertainty caused by the presence of a noun standing
alone is perceptibly diminished. This is true not only when the article
is present, but also when its counterpart
†
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