re: Gender in language

Jeff Fabijanic (jeff@primordialsoft.com)
Tue, 24 Mar 1998 10:33:37 -0500


phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu (Damien R. Sullivan) wrote:

>I think I've read that Old English originally had another word meaning 'male
>humans' and that 'man' was originally restricted to its inclusive sense, like
>andros and gynos vs. anthropos in Greek. Can anyone confirm this?

Sure, that's easy. Go read the Canterbury Tales. In Chaucerian England,
it is obvious from context that "man" simply met any person, male or
female - as did "fellow".

- jeff