the origin of the word "the"?

can anyone tell me the origin of the word "the"?

late O.E. þe, nom. masc. form of the demonstrative pronoun and adj. After c.950, it replaced earlier se (masc.), seo (fem.), þæt (neut.), and probably represents se altered by the þ- form which was used in all the masc. oblique cases. O.E. se is from PIE base *so- "this, that" (cf. Skt. sa, Avestan ha, Gk. ho, he "the," Ir., Gael. so "this"). For the þ- forms, see that. The s- forms were entirely superseded in Eng. by c.1250, excepting dial. survival slightly longer in Kent. O.E. used 10 different words for "the" , but did not distinguish "the" from "that." That survived for a time as a definite article before vowels (cf. that one or that other). Adv. use in the more the merrier, the sooner the better, etc. is a relic of O.E. þy, originally the instrumentive case of the neuter demonstrative þæt .

However, OE nom. fem. sing. "seo" survived as ME "sche" (alonside ME "heo"/"he"/"ho", which ended up being replaced by it), which became MdE "she", one must remember.

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