Ziko van Dijk wrote:
Hello,
Could someone explain to me why "Wikipedia" is without definite
article? In English you say "the Britannica", so why not "the
Wikipedia"? I am wondering that also in German Wikipedians and
non-Wikipedians tend to drop the article, although we say "der
Brockhaus".
Actually, singular proper nouns commonly do not take the definite
article in English. I would not say "the Britannica" anymore than I
would say "the Wikipedia" (or, as noted, "the Encarta"). This
particular
case may indicate a difference between British and American English
here, I'm guessing from the other comments.
There are some situations where you would use the definite article for
singular proper nouns, such as with some geographical names, or when the
name is actually a combination of common and proper nouns. Thus, I might
refer to "the Encyclopedia Britannica" because it's "the
encyclopedia"
and "Britannica" identifies which encyclopedia I mean.
--Michael Snow