potoooooooo 🥔@lemmy.world to History Memes@piefed.socialEnglish · 7 months agoMaybe I've just got the wrong history booklemmy.worldimagemessage-square74linkfedilinkarrow-up1637arrow-down14cross-posted to: politicalmemes@lemmy.world
arrow-up1633arrow-down1imageMaybe I've just got the wrong history booklemmy.worldpotoooooooo 🥔@lemmy.world to History Memes@piefed.socialEnglish · 7 months agomessage-square74linkfedilinkcross-posted to: politicalmemes@lemmy.world
minus-squarevga@sopuli.xyzBannedlinkfedilinkarrow-up4·7 months agoIn archaic language (which Ulysses certainly is using in the game), men refers to all human beings.
minus-squareabsentbird@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up2·7 months ago‘man’ and ‘men’ started as gender neutral terms, like a shortened form of ‘human’. The prefix for male humans was ‘wer’ and for female humans ‘wif’, which is where we get the words werewolf and wife.
minus-squarepotoooooooo 🥔@lemmy.worldOPlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up1·7 months agoWait, so I’m a werman?
minus-squareabsentbird@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up2·7 months agoYep, though I think usually people just used ‘man’; the ‘wer’ prefix was for when gender was important, like ‘husband’ or ‘father’. When the Normans invaded, the English language tilted more towards explicit gender. I blame the French.
In archaic language (which Ulysses certainly is using in the game), men refers to all human beings.
‘man’ and ‘men’ started as gender neutral terms, like a shortened form of ‘human’. The prefix for male humans was ‘wer’ and for female humans ‘wif’, which is where we get the words werewolf and wife.
Wait, so I’m a werman?
Yep, though I think usually people just used ‘man’; the ‘wer’ prefix was for when gender was important, like ‘husband’ or ‘father’.
When the Normans invaded, the English language tilted more towards explicit gender. I blame the French.