Sandhi

Sandhi is a kind of phonological change. For me, the change in the word the is not conditioned by the word that follows (beginning with a vowel), but rather emphasis. A favorite bit of dialog from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum illustrates this:

X: The (thee) Miles Gloriosus?
Y: The the (thee) himself.

Sandhi is a linguistic term used by Sanskrit grmmarians. It can refer to the changes to the beginnings and endings of words based on what preceeds or follows. The following sentence and its counterpart with the words in isolation (sandhi undone):

raamo vanam gacchati ||
Rama goes to the forest.
raamah | vanam | gacchati ||
Rama (nom sg), forest (acc), s/he goes

The ending -ah (originally an -as, cf. Latin -us, Greek -os) becomes an -o before voiced consonants. Editions of the Rigveda have the individual lines in both forms to make it easier to understand the hymns.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.