Is there any situation where an article could be used in front of a pronoun?
I was reading an online copy of the King James Bible and (in John 18:1) found this:
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
The whole thing is fantastically archaic, but the notable part is into the which he entered
. Obviously he entered into 'the garden' (the thing just mentioned), but surely into the which
should just be into which
, or possibly whereinto
, whither
, or really any of the dozens of archaicisms to choose from. I think I'm going mad thinking about this. Is is, in any way (even archaically), correct?
Is appears to be a Middle English usage as suggested by A Grammar of the English Language, Volume 2 by George Oliver Curme:
Instead of the determinatives so — so we often find others in older English , especially the and that , as in the which , which that , the which that , the usual forms in Middle English, referring to either persons or things. The which began to appear in Old English.