The prefiguration of the classical greek definite article in Homeric epic poetry

Five different uses of omicron/eta/tau omicron in connection with a noun phrase are distinguished in Homeric poetry. In the most frequent of them (omicron iota - beta alpha sigma iota lambda eta epsilon sigma ), omicron/eta/tau omicron is still a pronoun, with cataphoric/anaphoric force, the noun phrase being but an external apposition. In the statistically third use (tau omicron nu mu upsilon theta omicron nu), omicron/eta/tau omicron is tightly linked to a substantive, but with the force of a demonstrative adjective, not of an article. In the three other uses, omicron/eta/tau omicron is linked to a predicative phrase, which is not always but generally an adjective, often alone (omicron iota alpha lambda omicron iota), sometimes with a marginal substantive, which is located either before omicron/eta/tau omicron (pi alpha iota delta alpha... tau omicron nu alpha rho iota sigma tau omicron nu), or behind the adjective (,tau omicron sigma omicron nu - mu epsilon nu omicron sigma). In these three uses, omicron/eta/tau omicron has a semipronominal force, being head of the noun phrase, but needing a predicative complement (like French celui). This syntax foreshadows the construction of the article. Some peculiarities of Apollonios' theories relating to the definite article in classical Greek may be connected to Homeric uses.