This article traces the diachronic development from the Proto Norse demonstrative hinn via the Old Icelandic definite article(s) to the Modern Icelandic article system. This demonstrative gave rise to two distinct article elements during the Viking period that are well-attested from Old Icelandic onwards, a freestanding and a suffixed article.Based on evidence from Old Icelandic, I argue for a categorial distinction between an adjectival and a nominal article, which does not entirely coincide with a mere morpho-phonological distinction. The former, which mostly occurs as a freestanding element, is a genuine component of AP, not an immediate constituent of the nominal extended projection. The latter, which only occurs in suffixal form, heads a low projection in the extended nominal projection and has scope only over the noun. For Modern Icelandic, on the other hand, I will adopt the idea that free and suffixed articles are two surface manifestations of the same element.The diachronic perspective is complemented by an examination of the development of seven adjectivally modified definite noun phrase patterns. This empirical survey reveals several surprising facts: The standard pattern of modification in Modern Icelandic was virtually non-existent prior to the 17th century, and double definiteness persisted until the early 20th century. Likewise, certain modificational patterns otherwise found in Mainland Scandinavian were dominant between the 16th and 19th century. This latter observation points to a competition between two adjectival articles hinn vs. sá similar to the one that had taken place earlier in Mainland Scandinavian. In Icelandic, however, sá did not replace hinn, and, in the long run, a pattern not comprising an adjectival article became the dominant one.

中文翻译：

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1000年后重逢。冰岛语定冠词的发展

本文追溯了原始挪威语示范语的历时发展欣恩通过古冰岛语定冠词到现代冰岛语冠词系统。这个指示在维京时期产生了两个不同的冠词元素，从古冰岛语开始就得到充分证明，一个独立冠词和一个后缀冠词。基于来自古冰岛语的证据，我主张在形容词和名词冠词之间进行分类区分，这与单纯的形态语音区别并不完全一致。前者主要作为独立元素出现，是 AP 的真正组成部分，而不是名义扩展投影的直接组成部分。后者仅以后缀形式出现，在扩展的名义投影中指向低投影，并且仅在名词上具有范围。另一方面，对于现代冰岛语来说，我将采用自由冠词和后缀冠词是同一元素的两种表面表现的观点。历时性的观点辅以对七个形容词修饰的定名词短语模式的发展的考察。这项实证调查揭示了几个令人惊讶的事实：现代冰岛语的标准修改模式在 17 世纪之前几乎不存在。th世纪，双重确定性一直持续到 20 年初th世纪。同样，其他在斯堪的纳维亚大陆发现的某些修饰模式在 16th和 19th世纪。后一种观察指出了两个形容词文章之间的竞争欣恩对比萨类似于早些时候在斯堪的纳维亚大陆发生的情况。然而，在冰岛语中，萨没有更换欣恩，并且从长远来看，不包含形容词文章的模式成为主导模式。