English Workshop |
Humans |
Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
How come we say Humans instead of Humen? |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
For the same reason we don't say mentra when we mean mantras. from dictionary.com: man [Middle English, from Old English mann] The etymology of human, on the other hand, can be traced back to Old French humain and Latin humanus, which are both ultimately derived from the Latin root humus, a word literally translated as "earth." A human, therefore, was "of the earth," as opposed to the gods of the heavens. Interestingly, and perhaps ironically, the Latin humus is also the root for our English word, "humble." Tracing the origins of words can be fun, but as in most things, we should avoid making hasty assumptions. The her in Hercules didn't make him a woman, the his in history has nothing to do with gender, and the man in mantra relates not to humanity, but rather to God, in its Hindu roots. |
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Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
That is interesting. I don't know much about latin or french. But I may usually trace words that are derived from the ancestral forms of english itself. In old english the form of "guma" in acc/gen/dat sing and nom/acc/ plural are guman which sort of sounds like "human" but meant man, and often "warrior" Usually I just thought of "human" as being something toward "homo (sapiens) + man") which therefore made me wonder why not "humen" Thank you for clear that up for me and perhaps some others out there too [This message has been edited by Essorant (11-09-2003 02:16 PM).] |
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