Historically, ‘he’ has been more commonly used than ‘she’ when referring to gender indeterminate individuals in English so it doesn’t even necessarily imply any gender assumption.
Perhaps interestingly, J.S. Mill tried to argue that “Man” is historically gender-neutral, and so women already have the right to vote in England, since the law refers to “man”. He did not win that battle.
My understanding is that “man” is historically gender neutral. Old English used wer (wereman) for adult males and wif (wifman) for adult females. Wif is etymologically related to wife and eventually changed into woman (from wimman). Wer got dropped and all we have left of it is “werewolf”.
The use of “man” to refer to only adult males is relatively late, like 1000 A.C.E. -ish.
Or wyfwulf… or something. There was no standardized spelling.
Also, I think woman used to mean wife, in the same way it is occasionally used in casual (grrr) American dialect English today. There might be a different word for an unmarried female (and an unmarried female wolf-person!).
Perhaps interestingly, J.S. Mill tried to argue that “Man” is historically gender-neutral, and so women already have the right to vote in England, since the law refers to “man”. He did not win that battle.
My understanding is that “man” is historically gender neutral. Old English used wer (wereman) for adult males and wif (wifman) for adult females. Wif is etymologically related to wife and eventually changed into woman (from wimman). Wer got dropped and all we have left of it is “werewolf”.
The use of “man” to refer to only adult males is relatively late, like 1000 A.C.E. -ish.
So a female werewolf should actually be a wifwolf? Excellent!
Or wyfwulf… or something. There was no standardized spelling.
Also, I think woman used to mean wife, in the same way it is occasionally used in casual (grrr) American dialect English today. There might be a different word for an unmarried female (and an unmarried female wolf-person!).
Casual?
With the amount of attention causality gets around here, I have to ask.
Well a language could hardly function if it was acausal, could it?!
Fixed.