"the" with the names of lakes (Lake Baikal/ the Baikal)

[GeneD]

In some grammar-books written by Russian and Belarusian speakers, the rule on the article usage with names of lakes goes like this: we should say "Lake Baikal" but "the Baikal", "Lake Narach" but "the Narach". It looked pretty strange to me, and I looked at the Wikipedia articles for these two lakes, and they suggest quite the opposite (for instance, "Baikal is the world's deepest lake" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal, "Narach is a part of the Narach lake group" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Narach).

When I saw (or heard) about "the Narach" a few years ago, there were no any context in the examples for the rule, so I thought it must have been a reference to the Narach River or the Narach lake group. Yesterday I heard the same about Baikal, and this time I got a little unsure of my understanding (I wouldn't put the article before either "Baikal" or "Lake Baikal"). The thing is, there is neither a river (the Baikal) nor a group of lakes called by this name (unlike the instance with Narach). Also I don't know who the writer of the Wikipedia articles is (an American, British, Canadian, Australian or some other speaker of some other variety of English ), and maybe there is some difference in the use of "the" with lake names between some varieties of English. And I also remember instances when a country name first contained the article but then lost it ("the Ukraine" became "Ukraine"), and I wonder if it's the same with lake names. Well, you see I'm confused. There are many guesses in my head. But the main guess, I must confess, is that that is just a mistake to say "the Baikal". But what do you think of it?

 

[bhaisahab]

I think it's wrong to use 'the Narach' and 'the Baikal' when referring to the lakes.

 

[GoesStation]

Use the article with a river: I live near the Little Miami River, which joins the Ohio east of Cincinnati. The only time you'd use it with the name of a lake is when that name is a modifier: The Lake Erie watershed collects excessive amounts of phosphorus.

 

[teechar]

Note that in the above example, "the" is required because of "watershed".

 

[GeneD]

GS, teechar, thanks. Yes, I'm aware of that. When looking through that Wikipedia article, I saw "the Baikal seal" but I knew that "the" was there because of the "seal", not Baikal.

 

[GoesStation]

The body of water is a sea. A seal is a marine mammal.

 

[GeneD]

The body of water is a sea. A seal is a marine mammal.

Maybe as a rule, but there are seals in Baikal, surprisingly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikal_seal

 

[GeneD]

The body of water is a sea. A seal is a marine mammal.

Or did you mean that Baikal is a sea? If so, I could agree with that provided its water wasn't fresh. So we have either a fresh water sea or seals living in a lake.

 

[Tarheel]

Or did you mean that Baikal is a sea? If so, I could agree with that provided its water wasn't fresh. So we have either a fresh water sea or seals living in a lake.

Maybe those seals don't know they are supposed to be marine mammals.
;-)

 

[teechar]

Interestingly enough, the definite article is used with the names of seas.

 

[Tarheel]

For some reason we don't use "the" before the names of lakes.

Lake Michigan
Lake Superior
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Baikal
Lake Wylie
Lake Norman

But we do use "the" before the names of rivers.

The Mississippi
The Ohio
The Missouri
The Volga
The Don
The Danube
The Dnieper

And seas.

The Black Sea
The Caspian Sea
The Mediterranean Sea

 

[GoesStation]

There's also a lake which is generally referred to only as The Sea of Galilee. It's never called "the Galilee Sea" or "Lake Galilee".

 

[Tdol]

And I also remember instances when a country name first contained the article but then lost it ("the Ukraine" became "Ukraine")

I think this was down to the change from a region to a country. If the Algarve became independent from Portugal, it would take a while for people to stop saying the article.