Re: CHAT: Epicene man (was Re: ...y'know)

BP Jonsson wrote:
> But isn't this caused by the polysemy of English _man_ -- "male human
> being" AND "human being in general"?
Well, the second meaning is rather marked, and seems to be on its way
out, with the exception of certain fossilized forms like "manslaughter"
(I can't imagine the word "personslaughter", but who knows?).  I know
that *I* never use "man" for "human being", unless you count the suffix
-man, in fossilized forms like "freshman" (never *freshperson or
*freshwoman).  However, I do use Man for "humanity".

But anyways, I seriously doubt that has anything to do with it.  Man has
meant "male person", almost exclusively, in colloquial speech.

> I've also noted that in modern Icelandic there is a drive towards using
> _maDur_ ['ma:DYr] only in the sense "human being", and only _karl_ [katl]
Did _maDur_ originally mean "male person"?  Fascinating, the exact
opposite of ours.

> and _kvenmaDur_ "female _maDur_" if one wishes to be more specific!)
Reminds me of Old English _wifman_ ("woman-person"), source of Modern
_woman_.

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