pl. Obs. Forms: see below. [OE. þá, nom. and acc. pl. of se, séo, þæt, simple demonstrative, THAT, and definite article, THE; = OFris. thâ, OS. thia (also m. thie, the, f. the, n. thiu, OHG. m. die, dia, dê, f. dio, dia, dê, n. diu, dei, ON. m. þeir, f. þǽr, n. þau, Goth. m. þai, f. þôs, n. þô. The original form þá, thā remained in the northern dialect, where it still exists as Sc. thae, theae, N. Yorksh. theeä: see THAE. In midl. and south of England þā became regularly þō (found in Kentish a. 1200), and remained in use as tho (thoo, thoe) to c. 1550. As early as 1300 it began to be supplanted in the north by þās, and later in the south by þōs, which finally took its place in Standard Engl. as THOSE, q.v.]

1

  A.  Illustration of Forms.

2

  α.  1–3 ðá, 1–5 þá, (3 þæ), 4 þaa, 4–6 tha, Sc. þai, thai, thay (6– Sc. THAE, q.v.]. Early inflexions: dat. 1 þǽm, þám, 2–3 þan, þon, 3 þen. gen. 1 þára, þǽra, ðeara, 2–3 þare, þere.

3

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, ii. 10. Alle ða ðe doemað eorðan.

4

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark iv. 10. Þa twelfe þe mid him wæron.

5

c. 1200.  Ormin, 429. Swa ne didenn nohht ta twa Þatt we nu mælenn ummbe. Ibid., 2796. Þa menn þatt wel himm follȝhenn.

6

c. 1205.  Lay., 9180. Scoððe him comen þæ [c. 1275 þe] tiðinde of Crist godes childe.

7

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 6435. Aparty of þa paynes sere.

8

13[?].  Cursor M., 6448 (Cott.). To þaa þat gret birþin bar.

9

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (Jacobus), 317. To þai discipulis þe kynge Had granttit … þar askine.

10

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), ii. 16. Tha stalwart knychtis.

11

[1583–: see THAE.]

12

  dat.  c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 7. Betux þæm twæm ean sindon þas land Arocasia & Parthia. Ibid., II. vii. § 2. On þæm daʓum.

13

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. iii. 1. On þam [Rushw. In þæm] daʓum com iohannes se fulluhtere.

14

c. 1160.  Hatton Gosp., Matt. v. 44. Doð wel þan [Ags. G. þam] þe eow yfel doð.

15

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. Swich þeu wes bi þan daȝen.

16

c. 1205.  Lay., 747. Cuð he wes þen cnihten [c. 1275 þeos cniþtes].

17

1340.  Ayenb., 11. To alle þon þet wyleþ by yborȝe. Ibid., 30. Of þan þet hi byeþ yhealde uor te amendi.

18

  gen.  c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, xiii. 3. Ðeara [L. quorum] muð awerʓednisse & bitterniss ful bið.

19

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 16. Þara wæron syx stælhranas.

20

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), ii. (heading). Ælc þæra þe þysne sealm sincgð.

21

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 135. On ðere monne heorte.

22

c. 1205.  Lay., 1776. Þere Freinsce monnen [c. 1275 of þe Frense mennene]. Ibid., 3346. Heo sende … to þare chihtene inne.

23

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 1584 (Cott.). On þare beire nede.

24

  β.  2–3 þeo.

25

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 47. Alle þeo þe ihereð godes weordes.

26

c. 1205.  Lay., 9056. Þeo cudden Kinbeline.

27

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 360. Cleopest þeo [MS. C. þoa] þinges godes.

28

c. 1300.  Beket, 721. Nameliche theo for alle other.

29

  γ.  2–4 þo, (3 to), 3 þoa, 4 þoo, 4–6 tho, thoo, (5 thow), 6 thoe.

30

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 79. Þo þet weren imakede engles.

31

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 139. And bi þo daȝes luuede herodes … his broðer wif.

32

1388.  Wyclif, Prov. iv. 22. For tho ben lijf to men fyndynge thoo.

33

c. 1460.  Wisdom, 689, in Macro Plays, 58. Now wyll we thre do make a dance Off thow þat longe to owur retenaunce.

34

1521.  Fisher, Wks. (1876), 316. In thoo causes that perteyne vnto god.

35

1526.  Tindale, Rev. ii. 10. Feare none off thoo [Coverd. tho; Gt. Bible those] thynges which thou shalt soffre.

36

1553.  Becon, Reliques of Rome (1563), 238. All thoe that fraunches of holye Churche breake.

37

  B.  Signification.

38

  I.  Dem. pron.: pl. of THAT B. I.; = THOSE I. (they, them).

39

  Often indistinguishable from 3rd pers. pron. they. The ME. north. and Sc. þa often ran together with þai, þay, they.

40

  1.  In general sense.

41

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 21. Þa habbað him sylf cyning. Ibid., I. i. § 11. Binnan þæm sindon moneʓa þeoda.

42

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 290. Heo hafaþ leaf sinewealte and ða bittere on byrgincge. [Cf. THOSE I. 2 b.]

43

c. 1205.  Lay., 6403. Þeo [c. 1275 hii] fihten wið þone duke.

44

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter cxxiii[i]. 6. Þat noght gaf us swa In taking of tothe of þa.

45

a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P., vii. 29. Ne lete for non of tho.

46

13[?].  Cursor M., 8817 (Gött.). Þus þa [C., F. þai, Tr. þei] proued it thre days.

47

1388.  Wyclif, 1 Kings vi. 12. If thou … kepist alle my comaundementis, and goist bi tho [1382 hem; L. per ea].

48

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 52. Tho be proprely the gates, Thurgh whiche … Comth alle thing.

49

1434.  Misyn, Mending Life, II. vi. 116. Be þame þa wote endles lyfe to wynn.

50

c. 1440.  Generydes, 888. Peraventour I myght be on of thoo.

51

1573.  Satir. Poems Reform., xlii. 231. Quhair ar tha?

52

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., X. (S.T.S.), II. 298. Sa tha facht that betueine thame was amissing a thousand or thairabout.

53

a. 1600.  Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xiv. 9. I am not one of tho.

54

  2.  As antecedent pronoun followed by a relative clause or its equivalent: = THOSE B. I. 4.

55

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, cxxxiv. 2. Ða ðe stondað in huse dryhtnes.

56

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), v. 5. Þu hatast ealle þa þe unriht wyrcað.

57

a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 219. Heo ȝescop ȝesceafte þaða he wolde.

58

c. 1200.  Ormin, 53. Þa þatt wærenn gode menn.

59

c. 1205.  Lay., 6420. Þeo [c. 1275 þaie] þat hit iseȝen.

60

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 32. Habbeð reouþe of þeo þet beoð ine.

61

c. 1300.  Harrow. Hell, 82. Alle þo þat bueþ heryne.

62

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13903. Seide Arthur þen to þo þer ware.

63

13[?].  Cursor M., 1529 (Cott.). Þaa [v.rr. þai, þei] þat þa [þer, þir] wonders werkes wroght.

64

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1531 (Hypsiphyle). Alle tho that lyuyn & been dede.

65

c. 1400.  Rule St. Benet, 12. Of þe þridde maner o mekenes spekys sain benet to þa in his reul wyl be.

66

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), iii. 10. Þa þat schafes þaire berdes.

67

1463.  Bury Wills (Camden), 29. The chymes, as wel tho that been in Seynt Marie stepill as tho that been [etc.].

68

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 802. The maist man of all tha That euer he had sene.

69

1509.  Fisher, Wks. (1876), 271. Blessyd are tho whiche haue made vertuous ende.

70

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lvii. 193. All tho in your company.

71

1553.  Becon, Reliques of Rome (1563), 238 b. All thoe yt be common robbers.

72

  II.  Dem adj.

73

  3.  Plural of THAT B. II.; = THOSE II.

74

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 16. Þa deor hi hatað hranas. Ibid., § 17. On þæm morum eardiað Finnas.

75

a. 1123.  O. E. Chron., an. 1119. Þa tweʓen cyngas … mid heoran folcan.

76

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 51. Þo word muneȝeð us.

77

1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 461. Custume was bi þo dawes.

78

13[?].  Cursor M., 2590 (Cott.). Als it was hight befor þaa [v.rr. þa, þas] dais.

79

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 500. Out of the Gospel he tho wordes caughte.

80

1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 1755. Al-þei he were a paynym in þo dawes.

81

1502.  Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 146. Whoo kysseth thoo crosses hath v. C. yere of pardon.

82

1526.  Tindale, Acts xviii. 17. Gallio cared for none of tho thynges.

83

1553.  Kennedy, Compend. Tract., in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844), 103. The juge that wes in tha days.

84

  b.  In concord with a sb. antecedent to a relative.

85

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 22. Ealle ða menn ðe swyftoste hors habbað. Ibid., § 25. Þa land þe man hæt Gallia Bellica.

86

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), iii. (heading). Ælc þæra manna þe þisne sealm singð.

87

1122.  O. E. Chron. Ealle þa gersumes þe þær binnen wæron.

88

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., Ða songes þa we nu singeð.

89

1382.  Wyclif, Prov. i. 22. Tho thingus that ben noȝesum to them.

90

1418.  Hen. V., in Proc. Privy Counc. (1834), II. 244. Al þoo personnes þat been oure sugettes.

91

c. 1450.  trans. De Imitatione, III. i. 64. Blessid be þo eres þat receyueþ of goddys rounynge.

92

1526.  [see A. γ].

93

1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Sept., 32. In tho countryes, whereas I haue bene.

94

  4.  Plural of definite article THE.

95

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, v. 6. Ne ðorhwuniað ða unrehtwisan biforan eʓum ðinum.

96

c. 850.  O. E. Chron., an. 2. And þa cild on Bethlem of slæʓene wærun for Cristes ehtnesse from Herode.

97

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 15. Þa Finnas, him þuhte, and þa Beormas spræcon neah an ʓeþeode.

98

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. v. 5. Eadiʓe synt þa liðan [Lindisf. ða milde], forþam þe hi eorðan aʓun.

99

a. 1123.  O. E. Chron., an. 1116. Eallæ þa husas. Ibid., an. 1117. Þurh þa renas.

100

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 11. Þa halie daȝes.

101

c. 1200.  Moral Ode (Egerton MS.), 192. He scal deme þo quike and to dede.

102

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 861 (Cott., Gött.). He wend to hide him amang þa [F., Tr. þe] tres.

103

  III.  5. Relative pron., plural of THAT rel. pron.

104

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, viii. 4. Steorran ða ðu ʓesteaðulades.

105

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), cxliii. 9. Fremdra bearna, and frecenra, Þara [L. quorum] muðas sprecað man-idel word.

106

c. 1175.  [see 3 b].

107

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 21. Us … and alle þo nede habbeð.

108

c. 1205.  Lay., 7121. For uncuðe lcoden þeo þis londe habbeð bi-wunnen. Ibid., 6415. Alle þa [c. 1275 þe] he funde. Ibid., 7789. He sette reuwen stronge & hæȝen þo fengen þa lond-gauel.

109

1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 160. His Sonnes tha wickyd men were.

110

a. 1425.  Cursor M., 5237 (Trin.). Manassen and effraym þo [earlier MSS. þat] in egipte his wil him bare whiche [v.rr. þat, þe quilk] þe kyng had geten him þare.

111