The, This and That
Middle English Grammar 1
Chapter 3 · The, This and That
📜 The, This and That
In Old English the word for "the" had many forms for gender, number and case (Old English Grammar 1, Chapter 5). In Middle English almost all of them are gone. This chapter is a short one on purpose. The Wikipedia Middle English article has no section on articles or demonstratives, so I used other pages, and they cover less than a grammar book would. I say below what I could and could not verify.
The definite article
| Point | What the sources say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The form | In Middle English the was written þe, with thorn standing for "th" | English articles |
| Use | The article is the only English definite article and "can be used with both singular and plural nouns, with nouns of any gender" | English articles |
| Loss of forms | "Most of the roughly one dozen forms" of the Old English definite article disappeared in Early Middle English (1150 to 1350 on the page) | Middle English |
| Other spellings | The, thi, thy, þͤ, þᵉ, þi, þy | Wiktionary, þe |
| Origin | From Old English þē, described as "a late variant of sē, the þ- from the oblique stem replacing the earlier s-"; the s- form occurred in the nominative singular masculine and feminine only | Wiktionary, þe |
| Abbreviation | Scribes wrote þe with a small superscript e, which later became a y with a superscript e in early modern print | English articles |
- What is left of the old forms. The Middle English article shows an old feminine article in the owl example, þo ule (Chapter 2), as a survival of grammatical gender in early Middle English.
- A date for the invariant article. I could not find one. The Middle English article gives no date for the becoming invariant, and the English articles page gives none either.
- Dialects. None of these pages gives separate Northern and Southern forms of the article. I show none.
- Where the article shapes adjectives. The Middle English article says single-syllable adjectives take a final -e after the definite article and after demonstratives such as þis and þat, and that this continued in writing after the final e stopped being pronounced. Chapter 4 follows this up.
A and an
| Point | What the English articles page says |
|---|---|
| Origin | An is the older form, related to one, from Old English ān, which goes back to roots meaning "single" |
| The loss of n | The n was gradually assimilated before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century, but survived before vowels, which is why an is used before vowel sounds today |
| An example | The Paston Letters of 1448 show the n shifting between article and noun: a nege for an edge |
| Later change | The form an before /ju/ words such as unicorn was largely replaced by a from the 19th century on |
This
The Wiktionary entry for Middle English þis ("this") lists these spellings, and its headword line gives some Old-English-style inflected forms: a feminine þeos, an accusative þisne, a dative þissum and a genitive þisses. I give the lists as printed and take it that the headword line records older forms, not Middle English usage. Wiktionary is edited by volunteers, and what I read was a snapshot.
| Group | Forms (as the entry prints them) |
|---|---|
| Main alternative forms | þys, þise, þisse, þyse, þysse, þes, þese, þeis, þeise, þeys, þeyse, þeose, þus, dis |
| Southwest | þues, þusse |
| Northern and East Anglia | yis |
| Early Middle English | þisse, þysse, þies, þyes, þesse, þæs, þos |
| After dentals | The tis forms |
- Sound. The entry's pronunciation note gives /ðis/, with emphatic /θis/, and /tis/ after /t/.
- Plural. The entry does not label any form as plural, so I cannot tell you from this source which of these spellings were plural. Modern English these descends from forms like these, but I did not find a source that states it, so I do not claim it.
- Dialects. The only regional labels are the two above: Southwest þues, þusse, and Northern and East Anglia yis. I could not find labels for the Midlands or Kent.
That
Wiktionary's Middle English entry for þat says only "alternative form of that" under three headings: conjunction, pronoun and determiner. It gives one citation, from a1420, a translation of Lanfranc's surgical text: þat is to-broken or dislocate. It lists no plural form, no dialect forms and no etymology for the Middle English section. So I can say þat and that are one word and that it served as conjunction, pronoun and determiner, and nothing more. I could not verify the plural (tho or those), and Wiktionary's entry for þo gave only "alternative form of þou (thou)", which is a different word.
What this chapter could not give
- A full paradigm of the Middle English article and demonstratives. No source I could read gave one.
- Dialect forms of that and the plurals of this and that.
- A date for the article becoming invariant.
I would rather say this than fill the gap from memory. When the course appendix is built, the article and demonstrative table will contain only the forms in this chapter.
Words to know
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Definite article | The word for "the" |
| Indefinite article | The word for "a" or "an" |
| Demonstrative | A word that points out something, such as this or that |
| Determiner | A word that introduces a noun, including articles and demonstratives |
| Invariant | Having only one form |
| Assimilation | A sound becoming like a neighbouring sound, or being absorbed by it |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Think of the answer first, then click to check.
1. How was the written in Middle English?
Show answer
þe, with thorn for "th".
2. What happened to the Old English forms of the definite article?
Show answer
Most of the roughly one dozen forms disappeared in Early Middle English (1150 to 1350 on the page).
3. From which Old English word does þe come, according to Wiktionary?
Show answer
þē, a late variant of sē, with þ- from the oblique stem replacing s-.
4. Why is "ye" not pronounced with a y?
Show answer
The y stood for thorn in print, so the word was the.
5. Where does a/an come from, and when did the n go before consonants?
Show answer
From Old English ān, "one"; the n was gradually lost before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century.
6. What does the Paston Letters example show?
Show answer
The n shifting between article and noun: a nege for an edge (1448).
7. Which regional forms of this does Wiktionary give?
Show answer
Southwest þues, þusse; Northern and East Anglia yis.
8. What roles does þat play in the Wiktionary entry?
Show answer
Conjunction, pronoun and determiner, each defined as "alternative form of that".