> So they combined hoc with ille, which means “that” (but also comes to just mean “he”: compare Spanish el, Italian il, French le, and so on)

Well, I have to disagree on this bit. French for "he" is actually "il"; while "le" is "the".

If you are more interested, "that" would be "ce", or if you want to stress it/be more accurate, "cela" (can be contracted to "ça"), or "celui-là" -- literally "that him there" -- while "this" would be "ceci". Yeah, lots of words to mean the same, you would usually be fine just picking one.

Interesting read nonetheless.