I am 😕 (confused).

What's up with the English language? We have man and woman. I mean, wo-man? Why not just wo?
Help?
😅 I'm curious now, so I asked ChatGPT's intake on this:


The words "man" and "woman" in English have an interesting linguistic history, rooted in Old English and older Germanic languages. Here's how these words evolved:

The Word "Man"

In Old English, "man" (or mann) originally meant "human being" in a general, gender-neutral sense, not specifically a male person. It was used to describe any person, regardless of gender. The word for a male person specifically was actually "wēr" (from which we get "werewolf," meaning "man-wolf").

Over time, wēr fell out of use, and "man" came to be associated more strongly with males. By the Middle English period, "man" had shifted toward referring specifically to a male, though it was still sometimes used to mean "person" in a general sense.

The Prefix "Wo-" in "Woman"

The word "woman" derives from Old English "wīfmann", where:

  • "wīf" (related to the modern word "wife") meant "woman" or "female."
  • "mann" meant "person" or "human being."
So "wīfmann" essentially meant "female human." Over time, this word evolved into "wīmmann" and then "woman," with "wo-" representing the modified form of "wīf."

Why Not Just "Wo"?

Since "woman" comes from wīfmann, the "man" part wasn't intended to signify a male person. Instead, it was simply a way to indicate "female human." The prefix “wo-” alone wouldn’t make sense because "wīfmann" was needed to create a specific meaning ("female person") distinct from "man" as a general term for all people.

So, in short, "woman" wasn’t derived from "man" in the sense of a "subordinate" term but was a compound word meaning "female person." Over time, though, the meanings and connotations have evolved to what we recognize in modern English.
 
In Salvic languages are a bit different. There are 2 different words for a man - muškarac - and a woman - žena :

Machine translation to English of this portal:
Žena

In most Slovenian languages, the root of the word from which the word žena [woman] is derived (Russian: žená, Polish: żona) comes from the Indo-European root gen – (I give birth). It is interesting that the Sanskrit gena and gna mean goddess. In Greek we have gynḗ, abbreviated jani, and in Latin – genus, gigno (genus, to give birth). These words - in the meaning of mother goddess, also come into Gothic - qino, qens and Old Norse - kona, and then into Swedish - kvinna and English - queen. Wife, mother and queen, but also goddess - have the same root word.

The word žena [woman] is both a pan-Slavic and proto-Slavic word.
So let's start - жена́ жени́ться in Russian, in Ukrainian it is жона́, жинка, the Bulgarian version is жена́, жана́. Old Slavic woman, γυνή, Bolg., Srpska. žèna, Slovak žéna, Czech ženŷina, woman, Polish żona, Lusatian žona.

Interestingly enough, I have problems finding the root of a word muškarac [man]. According to this FB post that has sourced this portal in Serbo-Croatian (again, a machine translation follows):
The words muž (husband), muško (male) and muškarac (man) came from the Indo-European root men-, meaning "to think". Muškarac (a man) is, therefore, "the one who thinks".
I.e. Russian is very similar: мушкарач (mushkarach)

So, we have the one who thinks and the one who gives birth.

It kind of reminds me of this:
Women were honored and cherished in their three manifestations: the virgin-future-mother; the mother-nourisher; and the crone-mother of wisdom. Men were partners and protectors of women, thereby protectors of their own being since all were born and nursed by women. The male energy served the female because the female served the male; there was cycling energy, synergy, symmetry and balance.

- Knight-Jadczyk, Laura. The Apocalypse: Comets, Asteroids and Cyclical Catastrophes (pp. 118-119). Red Pill Press. Kindle Edition.

FWIW... 😅
 
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