The Punjab is a rich state.
Is it correct to use the before Punjab?
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There are certain countries and regions which are traditionally referred to with the definite article: anywhere where the proper name is a description (The United States, The Gold Coast, The Windward Isles), but also certain names which are not (The Ukraine, The Punjab, The Gambia, The Argentine).
Some which were traditionally used this way are no longer: "The Argentine" is now usually replaced by "Argentina"; I believe that the government of Ukraine have specifically requested that their country not be referred to in English as "The Ukraine".
Descriptive names where the description is merely identifying one part of a whole do not usually take "the": North Korea, British Honduras, Inner Mongolia.
Many countries with simple names have a formal name which is a description, and these of course take "the": The Republic of China, The Dominion of Canada.
The use of "the" with a country or region name is rarely optional: in nearly all cases it is fixed, depending on the country or region.
Phrases like "The Spain of General Franco" are entirely different: they are a construction which can be used with proper nouns in general: "The John I used to know", "The Liverpool he returned to".
Colin Fine
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1Quibble and FYI. The Dominion of Canada was never an official formal name and fell out of use after WWII, although it did appear on some official documents up to 1967. The Canada Act of 1982 made the official, formal name of Canada simply: Canada. – ghoppe Mar 08 '11 at 13:46
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1+1. I would still however love to know why Ukraine ever was called "The Ukraine". – tenfour Mar 08 '11 at 14:36
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5@Colin: I think that with some of your examples in the first paragraph, they were indeed originally thought of as descriptive. Ukraine means something like "borderlands"; Punjab means "five rivers"; Gambia is the name of the river that bisects the country, and those often get a definite article (the Mississippi, for example); and Argentine means "silver-bearing area." – Alex Mar 08 '11 at 14:40
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@Alex: yes, in the case of Argentine, that is (barely) an English word. But Ukraine and Punjab are different cases: they have no meaning in English (and it cannot be a loan translation, because they come from languages without definite articles). Actually I have a theory that regions, as opposed to countries, were often construed with "the", unless they ended with "-ia". I know there are lots of counter-examples, so it doesn't work as a genuine rule, but I think there is a grain of truth in it. – Colin Fine Mar 08 '11 at 14:46
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@Peter: I haven't an answer. Perhaps Alex is right that it was perceived as a description in the original language, but I doubt it. I think the "why" question is no more answerable than many other "why" questions about particular languages. – Colin Fine Mar 10 '11 at 16:37
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Along with the answers already here, it may be helpful to know that the Punjab is a geographical region, some of which is in India and some in Pakistan. When we speak of the region, we call it the Punjab, and when we speak of the official state, it's usually just Punjab (without the article). In historical writing as well, the region is referred to as the Punjab.
Tragicomic
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1+1 The reference in the example must be to the region Punjab, 'the land of five rivers', not to the state. The sentence is incorrect. Either you say 'The Punjab' or 'Punjab state'. – Kris Sep 26 '12 at 12:53
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IMO, it's all about plural and singular.
You could even argue that losing the definite article is actually the last state of a normal process in the evolution of a country's name as it progresses towards unity.
For instance, in this thread Spain is often cited as a reference of not having an associated definite article. That's certainly true today but that was not always the case.
Back in the Roman era what we now call the Iberian Peninsula was called Hispania. There were at various times more than one Roman province therein (Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior; later Hispania Tarraconensis, Hispania Baetica, and Lusitania; and in the Verona List a total of six "Hispaniae", including part of North Africa [Thanks to Peter Taylor for this precision]). Then, in the XVth century Fernando de Aragón and Isabel de Castilla were referred to as "Reyes de las Españas". Nowadays that it is a single entity, nobody in Spain would use "Las Españas" or "En la España" but instead just "En España".
Punjab, as everybody knows, being the land of five rivers, still conveys a sense of plural, which could justify an article.
Evolution Path
As a rule of thumb, you could theorise that when several entities are grouped together, an implicit plural is present in the place name and that this implies an article.
After a while, though, if there is no ambiguity (if the proper name has no other meaning), then the group type ("islands", "lands", "united") is dropped but the article remains (at least for a while) and that is the root cause of the confusion.
Dropped "islands" - still with article:
The Azores, the Canaries, the Falklands, the Galapagos. However nobody dares to shorten "the Virgin Islands" to the "Virgins" because that could generate some misunderstanding ;-).Lands: The Netherlands (plural because these are the lands at or below sea level): in most languages, with plural article. But nobody says "The England", "The Scotland" because Angles and Scots have only one land.
One special case is Flanders (no article in English, Dutch, Spanish and German but an article in French (plural), Italian (plural) and Portuguese (singular!).United something: The United States, The United Emirates.
In these case, the implicit plural demands an article. However it is commonplace to hear "In the States" or "In the Emirates", the entity type is dropped but the article remains.
tchrist
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Alain Pannetier Φ
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1Back in the Roman era what we now call the Iberian Peninsula was called Hispania. There were at various times more than one Roman province therein (Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior; later Hispania Tarraconensis, Hispania Baetica, and Lusitania; and in the Verona List a total of six "Hispaniae", including part of North Africa). – Peter Taylor Mar 09 '11 at 13:36
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Thx Peter, I've replaced my paragraph about Hispania with your comment. Verbatim. – Alain Pannetier Φ Mar 09 '11 at 14:27
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I agree that country and region names that are plural pretty well always take "The". But your suggestion doesn't account for the cases where "the" is (or was) used in the singular. – Colin Fine Mar 10 '11 at 16:41
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@Colin. I'm trying to find some examples, but can't seem to find any. Beware that some apparent singulars are actually hidden plural. All I can find are "The" in front of a type of place or union (The Helvetic Confederation, The Republic of such and such). I'm curious to learn which ones you have in mind... And if you have a good one, I'd be happy to amend of even withdraw my "theory"... ;-) – Alain Pannetier Φ Mar 10 '11 at 19:53
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@ColinFine. OK I give you The Gambia, but I'm not conviced by The Ukraine. I'm tempted to classify it in the hidden plural category. Remember that the Germanic equivalent "March" is often a plural: "The Welsh Marches" for instance. I recently classified my banknotes collection and I eventually connected the name of the various ephemeral Krajina republics that were created during the Yugoslav Wars with "Ukraine". Not really related but I also learned recently that in Spanish, California used to be a plural "Las Californias". No the in English this time. Thanks for The Gambia though. – Alain Pannetier Φ Sep 26 '12 at 19:09
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I certainly don't classify it in the hidden plural category: I wonder why you do. I can't see the relevance of march/marches: almost no English speakers have any idea of the original meaning of Ukraine: it's just a foreign name. – Colin Fine Sep 29 '12 at 11:57
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Yes, you can, and it is correct to do so too. Similarly with the United States of America and the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and the Netherlands.
Jonathan Leffler
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2It could be argued that in the first two example, the name of the country is prefixed by a noun (and adjective) which describes the place, and such a noun will always have a "the", whereas the place name on its own does not, e.g.: America vs The United States of America, California vs The State of California. However, as you point out, there are exceptions, e.g. The Netherlands (although is that because this began as a description rather than a name?), The Hague, The Vatican, etc. – Steve Melnikoff Mar 08 '11 at 11:49
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Unless the country is referred to with a phrase or a "descriptive" name, as with the 3 examples he cited, you should not use an article.
The following are all wrong:
The Spain is a rich country.
The Ireland is a rich country.
The Texas is a rich state.
However,
The USSR has disintegrated.
The British Honduras is now known as Belize.
are both correct.
Since "Punjab" is not a descriptive name or the name of a region (at least, not in English), I don't believe that there should be a "the" before it.
Perhaps someone will be able to provide a more ironclad rule for when "The" is appropriate.
Edit: As Oosterwal points out in the comments, when the name references a region or implies that the country is composed of multiple parts, using "the" seems to be universally appropriate.
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4I would not have said 'The British Honduras'; it would be just 'British Honduras is now known as Belize'. – Jonathan Leffler Mar 08 '11 at 07:17
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Also, I 100% agree that most countries do not get a definite article in front of them, but I didn't say that they do. Spain, France, Portugal, ... in fact, just about any European country except the ones I mentioned will not take a definite article. The Principality of Monaco would; the Vatican would; they aren't quite countries, though. You'd not say 'the North Carolina', but you might say the Carolinas (or the Dakotas), referring to both the North and South states. It tends to be 'the XXXX' when XXXX implies a number of parts. The United Arab Emirates, but Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. – Jonathan Leffler Mar 08 '11 at 07:24
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"It has turned up in surprising places -- the Spain of General Franco, the Greece of the colonels, the Pakistan of the generals, the Eastern Europe of the commissars -- usually prefaced by some qualifying adjective such as " guided, " " basic, " " organic, " " popular, " or the like, which serves to dilute, deflect, or even reverse the meaning of the word." – apaderno Mar 08 '11 at 09:24
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2@kiamlaluno: indeed; in those examples, "the" is used to distinguish between the same place at different times. – Steve Melnikoff Mar 08 '11 at 11:50
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1@Hellion: I think the rule is that you use the definite article when the name references a collection of parts, or when the name references a specific subset of a region. Countries that are (or were) collections include The United Kingdom, The United States, and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Countries that are a specific subset of a region include The Kingdom of the Low Lands, i.e. The Netherlands. Referenced as a specific subset of a region, it's perfectly acceptable to refer to the Indian State of the Punjab as 'The Punjab'. – oosterwal Mar 08 '11 at 14:39
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There is no one rule. It's just what it is. (Certainly, one can look to history and circumstance to divine the origin of the in these names.) The Phillipines and The Gambia are notable examples. In some, the article is optional, e.g. [the] Sudan, [the] Congo, [the] Ukraine. Many country names take the when written in full, e.g. The Federal Republic of..., The Kingdom of..., The United..., The Democratic..., and so on. – Jimi Oke Mar 09 '11 at 02:12
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And I think it's becoming old-fashioned to use the for most of these country names. Nowadays, one usually just hears Gambia, Congo, Ukraine, etc. Except in plural country names, e.g. UAE, US, Phillipines, Netherlands, etc, the is largely seen as a colonialism and is fast falling out of favor. – Jimi Oke Mar 09 '11 at 02:18
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I was reflecting about the use of 'the' with 'Netherlands'... While is it customary, in English, to use the definite article with 'Netherlands', the Dutch do not use it in their own language. The informal name of the country is simply 'Nederland', not 'De Nederlanden'. The literal translation to English is 'Netherland'. As this map shows, the nether lands are a region that include parts of Belgium, Germany, and Denmark, but do not include all of the Netherlands, not unlike the Punjab. – oosterwal Mar 09 '11 at 13:28
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Speaking of peninsulas, it's quite common around Merseyside to refer to someone living on THE Wirral, short for 'the Wirral Peninsula'. And, by the way, we often talk about living ON Merseyside (though our neighbours live IN Lancashire and Cheshire) as if we're all perched on the banks of the Mersey. – David Garner Dec 17 '14 at 19:05
Those include the Punjab, the Lebanon, the Levant, the Ukraine and half a dozen others - out of what? 250 countries on the planet… and since Kostya Hmelnitski reminded me, not only the Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Gambia and The Bahamas but also the People's Republic of China. Even in that group, I suggest using the article with or without a capital is as much due to custom and usage as to any clera rule.
– Robbie Goodwin Jul 03 '18 at 22:15