this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
951 points (87.9% liked)

Memes

45727 readers
1070 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

One of the comments reads : Actually, we will probably never figure out, was it man or woman. but I thought this comment of the professor was an interesting eye opener. https://mastodonapp.uk/@MarkHoltom/112070436760917344

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] jackpot@lemmy.ml 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

etymologically speaking im not even sure if thats right. i heard somethibg like this and they either said woman doesnt derive from man or that man used to mean woman and man but woman became its own thing, cant recall

[โ€“] John_McMurray@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

"man" in the contexts not directly related to being a male, means human. "Man" used to have a prefix vaguely pronounced "were" and "woman" used to be "wifman". Female werewolf would be a "wifwolf" then. So anyways, "Man" never changed it's meaning, it really just gained an additional one, and yet again, whiners need to read a book.