The word "woman" originally comes from the Old English "wifman" which was a compound of "wif" and "man". In the Middle English collection cited for examples of these words (see links) one can still see the use of the root "wif". The meaning of wif was originally "woman" as we think of the word "woman". However it seems that very early on the term "wif" came to be used more to mean "wife" as we use it now than "adult female" as it can be more literally defined. "Wifman", as we can see, continued to be used to refer to an "adult female human" despite the specialization of it's root word "wif" when used by itself.
The "man" part of "wifman" did not refer to adult males, nor did it even refer to males but instead refered to what we now call "mankind" or the "human race" though the word "man" is still sometimes used in this case. It was a word used much like we use the word "person" now. This word too soon deviated from it's original meaning, though for this a remnant still remains of its original meaning in modern speach. Much of the corruption seems to be related to the fact that males dominated the social structure which caused something of a tunnel vision. A good example of how the same thing might work in modern times is, "I think people should treat their wives better." You get that occuring frequently enough and the word "people" may start to replace men and get ousted from its neuter position. (Kind of silly, but that's basically what happened and "people" by the way is not the proper plural for "person" and is not properly used in this example, but "persons" would be more appropriate. Time changes just about everything.)
Similar to "wifman", males were referred to by the Old English word "wapman". Having lost this, their gender defining prefix, it might be said that males have lost a significant identifying characteristic. The term used to refer to males has been neutered. (Ouch!)
On the other hand, one could also say that the word "woman" is a monument to the fact that women are fully human, or more interestingly, "woman" defines the woman as being a type of "man", while males ("wapmen") are just another type. Who needed etymology to figure that one out? It's self-evident.
Old English Words related to "Woman":
Old English Language Grammar by Cyril Babaev
| wífman | |
| cwene | feminine |
| cwén | masculine |
| ides |
Some Notes on Gender-Neutral Language
| man | member of human species |
| vir,wer,waepman | adult male member of human species |
| wifman | adult female member of human species |
Old English
| guma | man |
| wif (neuter) | woman |
Woman: Etymology of (Newsgroup posting)
