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(Continued from the latter sections of 'Pronouns' - see first of the above links.)

The article is atonic, which explains why ll > l in Castilian, and the initial vowel was lost in proclisis (where the following word takes the stress). In the case of el alma, el agua etc. el is a genuine feminine article, although in the modern language there are some odd cases of la introducing 'a'; in circumstances where a word begins with 'h' we have el hacha (etc.) but in some stock phrases, la is used e.g. la haz (<FACĬE) de la tierra, the face of the earth in the expression to wipe off the face of the earth etc. Also, mondar la haza means to clear the field. Where initial h in Castilian is resultant from C.L. initial F, it would have been pronounced initially e.g. haza < 'FASCĬA.

The contractions del and al of modern Spanish were once accompanied by many other forms: in Old Castilian, contraction could be brought about by running together a preposition with el in the masculine singular, giving rise to forms such as contral, paral and sobral...