The place that is not here — grammar's pointer to elsewhere, and the word that says a thing exists at all.
Old English þǣr (there, in that place), from the same Proto-Germanic demonstrative stem as the and that; grammar's pointer to elsewhere and the word that claims a thing exists at all share one old root for pointing away from here.
The place that is not here, grammar's pointer to elsewhere, and also the word that says a thing simply exists. Both point away from the speaker, toward what is merely so.