Criteria for using the definite article?

[Natalia Pylypiuk]

Dear Colleagues,

 From recent postings, I have gathered that the "gallicized" form of
names of countries (i.e., those ending
in "silent  -E") requires the use of the definite article, e.g., the
Argentine, the Ukraine.

What rule then was in place to produce  "the Sudan" and "the Lebanon"?
I saw both of these in the
American press of the 1970-80s.  More recently, one encounters simply
"Sudan" and "Lebanon."

I would like someone to explain the historical and / or grammatical
criteria for using the
definite article before names of (some) countries.  The argument "to my
native ear" is important,
but I would like to obtain more analytical and historical criteria.


Cheers and thank you!
N. Pylypiuk

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