Meaning of the word “the”

I need some help tracking down a quotation. I’m pretty sure that it was an early 20th century philosopher—perhaps Russell. He was explaining that modern philosophy no longer tries to find the meaning of life. Post-Witgenstein, it has narrowed its ambitions and now seeks only to discover the meaning of words. He goes on to explain why even this is likely to prove difficult. And then (here is the part I like) he wryly comments that in spite of the difficulties, there has been some progress in working out the meaning of the word “the”.

Does that ring a bell for anyone?