_Sing N._ þæt se seó þis þes þeós. _A._ þæt þone þá þis þisne þás. \____ _____/ \_____ _____/ \/ \/ _Abl._ þý þǽre þise þisse. _D._ þám þǽre þisum þisse. _G._ þæs þǽre þises þisse. \_____ _____/ \_____ _____/ \/ \/ _Plur. N. and A._ þá þás. _Abl. and D._ þám þisum. _G._ þára. þissa. "The indeclinable _þe_ is often used instead of _þæt, se, seó_, in all cases, but especially with a relative signification, and, in later times, as an article. Hence the English article _the_. "_þý_ seems justly to be received as a proper _ablativus instrumenti_, as it occurs often in this character, even in the masculine gender; as, _mid þý áþe_ = _with that oath_ ("Inæ Leges," 53). And in the same place in the dative, _on þǽm áþe_ = _in that oath_."--Pp. 56, 57. Hence the _the_ that has originated out of the Anglo-Saxon _þý_ is one word; whilst the _the_ that has originated out of the Anglo-Saxon _þe_, another. The latter is the common article: the former the _the_ in expressions like _all the more_, _all the better_ = _more by all that_, _better by all that_, and the Latin phrases _eo majus_, _eo melius_. That _why_ is in the same case with the instrumental _the_ ( = _þý_) may be seen from the following Anglo-Saxon inflexion of the interrogative pronoun:-- _Neut._ _Masc._ _N._ Hwæt Hwá _A._ Hwæt Hwone (hwæne). \_____ _____/ \/ _Abl._ _Hwi_ _D._ Hwám (hwǽm) _G._ Hwæs. Hence, then, in _the_ and _why_ we have instrumental ablatives, or, simply, _instrumentals_. § 216. _The determination of cases._--How do we determine cases? In other words, why do we call _him_ and _them_ accusatives rather than datives or genitives? By one of two means; viz., either by the _sense_ or the _form_. Suppose that in the English language there were ten thousand dative cases and as many accusatives. Suppose, also, that all the dative cases ended in -m, and all the accusatives in some other letter. It is very evident that, whatever might be the meaning of the words _him_ and _them_ their form would be dative. In this case the meaning being accusatives, and the form dative, we should doubt which test to take.