Criteria for using the definite article?

[Martin Votruba]

> that the "gallicized" form of names of countries (i.e.,
> those ending in "silent  -E")

That is not so, _the Argentine_ originated as an adjective
(grammatically), and as a name of a region (semantically,
onomastically), before it became an independent country.

> 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."

The rule was that in British English, regions in foreign (often
colonized) lands were used with _the_, but the names of countries
were used with no article (unless the headword was not a name:
Britain, but the United _Kingdom_ of Great Britain...).

Both the Lebanon, and the Sudan were names of (colonized) regions
before they became names of countries.  The usage with _the_ was a
carryover from before their independence (however relative that may
be).

That perception, of "a colony of the Kremlin," is what galls the most
those who are critical of keeping _the_ with _Ukraine_.


Martin

votruba "at" pitt "dot" edu

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