el

Forms

el (plural los, feminine la, feminine plural las, neuter lo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ille (“that”) or its accusative, a demonstrative that in Late Latin was already used in popular speech as a mere article, with the sound changes of an unstressed word.^[2][3][1][4] The archaic form elo of the Glosas Emilianenses suggests that the starting point was illum, the accusative, shortened in proclitic position.^[2] The same Latin word gave the stressed pronoun él.^[4]

Before a vowel Old Spanish generally used ell in the 12th and 13th centuries (Berceo has ⟨ell otro⟩); it declined in the 14th century and survived as a rustic form, still typical of the Golden Age stage peasant (⟨ell alcalde⟩ in Tirso).^[2] The masculine lo, which prevailed in Occitan, Old Catalan and early Portuguese, is very rare in Spanish, found only now and then in Leonese and Aragonese documents.^[2] The article from the same Latin word is Portuguese o, Galician o and Catalan el, earlier Old Catalan lo.^[5][6]

The feminine form of the article used before nouns beginning with a stressed /a/ (⟨el agua⟩, ⟨el alma⟩) is ela, from illa, the feminine of the same pronoun.^[1][7]

The Latin pronoun replaced Old Latin olle; de Vaan explains the change of ⟨o-⟩ to ⟨i-⟩ by analogy with iste.^[8] Wiktionary takes the Old Latin form back to *olnos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ol-no-s, from *h₂el- (“beyond, other”), the root of alius and alter.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas records the article from the earliest texts and the Cid, and the archaic form elo in the Glosas Emilianenses.^[2] In Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) it is the ordinary masculine singular article.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija described el as the article of the masculine noun, translating it as Latin hic.^[10] Covarrubias (1611) called it the masculine article of Castilian, as in el hombre, el cauallo, and noted that it sometimes has the value of Latin ille.^[11] Autoridades added that the article also covers the Latin neuter, and that el is used with feminine nouns beginning with a to avoid harshness: el alma, el áncora, el asa.^[12] The DLE now restricts this use to feminine singular nouns beginning with a stressed /a/, and describes the article's functions: a definite reference known to the hearer, the generic use, names of the days and months, and parts of a whole.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 950 – the Glosas Emilianenses have the archaic form elo.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses the article.^[2]
• 12th–13th centuries – ell before a vowel, as in Berceo's ell otro.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[9]
• 14th century – ell declines and becomes rustic.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: El, the article of the masculine noun.^[10]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it the masculine article of Castilian.^[11]

Meanings

Article

1. the: the masculine singular definite article, placed before a noun or noun phrase whose referent is known: Nos vemos en el bar.^[3][1]
2. Marks what is already present in the immediate context: Pásame el pan.^[3]
3. Before units of the calendar, the nearest one: Llega el lunes.^[3]
4. Marks something identified by a restrictive modifier, also with the noun left out: Me quedo con el rojo.^[3]
5. Gives a noun a generic reading: El perro es un mamífero.^[3]
6. Marks something as a part of what another element of the sentence denotes: Se lavó el pelo.^[3]
7. The feminine singular article before nouns beginning with a stressed /a/: el agua, el hacha.^[3][1]

Related words

• él
• la
• lo
• ella
• aquel
• Latin ille

Usage notes

El is also the form of the feminine article before a feminine singular noun beginning with stressed /a/ (written a- or ha-): el agua, el hacha, but las aguas; the noun stays feminine.^[3][7] It is not related to the Arabic article ال (al-).^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 549
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. el
4. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. el
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ille
6. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 266
7. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. el
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. el
10. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 340
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 704
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. el