These are the feminine forms of the common demonstrative pronoun οὗτος, meaning 'this' or 'these.' Greek carefully distinguished gender, number, and case in demonstratives, so αὕτη (nominative feminine singular), ταύτης (genitive feminine singular), and related forms specifically pointed to feminine nouns. The demonstrative arose from reduplication of the article with an inserted -υ-, creating a strong deictic pointer to something present or just mentioned. In discourse, it marked items close at hand physically or recently mentioned in speech. Biblical writers used it constantly to refer back to previously mentioned women, cities, concepts, or abstract feminine nouns.