The Definite Article in Old English: Evidence from Aelfric's Grammar

Abstract

This chapter provides evidence bearing on the question of whether Old English (OE) had what can be called a 'definite article', a matter of considerable debate by scholars of the history of English, many of whom assume that the English definite article only arose in the Early Middle English period. This article looks at Aelfric's use of determiners in his grammar of Latin. Since Latin had no definite article, Aelfric's use of determiners in his translations of Latin sentences which lacked one bears on the question of the optional or obligatory nature of a definite determiner in late Old English. The evidence suggests that although there was no 'dedicated' definite article at this stage, marking of definiteness of singular count nouns was already not optional.