Etymologically
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man

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Pronunciation

Forms

man m (plural mannen or man or mans, diminutive mannetje n or manneke n or manneken n)[1] Middle Dutch had the plurals manne, mannen and mans, and an uninflected plural man.[2] The uninflected plural survives after numerals.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch man, inherited from Old Dutch man, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mann, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mannan- (“man, person”).[4][1][5] The same word is Old Saxon man, Old High German man (modern German Mann), Old Frisian mon, Old English mann (modern English man), Old Norse maðr and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna), all meaning “man” or “human being”.[4][6][5] The tribal names Marcomanni and Alamanni contain it, and Tacitus names a Mannus, son of Tuisto, as the mythical ancestor of the Germanic peoples.[6][4]

The EWN calls the earlier history of the word not entirely clear and sets out four explanations.[4] The most widely held starts from Proto-Indo-European *mon-u-, an extension of a root for “human being” that also gives Sanskrit मनु (mánu-, “man, human being”), the name of Manu, the mythical forefather of mankind in Sanskrit texts.[4][6][7] Another suffix gives Old Church Slavonic мѫжь (mǫžĭ, “man”) (modern Russian муж (muž, “husband”)).[4][6] In this view the weak cases had ⟨*monw-⟩ before a vowel, which was assimilated to ⟨*monn-⟩, and the double ⟨nn⟩ then spread through the whole paradigm.[4][8] Franck and Van Wijk start instead from an n-stem ⟨*monon-⟩, whose weak cases had ⟨*monn-⟩, and the EWN gives this as a second variant.[7][4]

Many scholars have linked the root with Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”), the source of manen “to remind”, so that the word would have meant “the thinking being”.[4][6][7] De Vries and De Tollenaere allow it on formal grounds,[9] but the EWN finds so abstract a name unlikely for such an early period, and others have rejected the link.[4][6][10] A third explanation, which the EWN thinks less likely and Kroonen favours, derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰmṓ (“earthling, human”), the source of Latin homō (“human being”) and of the second part of bruidegom, with the initial consonants lost.[4][1] The fourth, by Liberman (2005), reverses the usual view and derives the common noun from the god's name Mannus.[4]

The pronoun men “one” is an unstressed form of the same noun.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms, where it usually translates Latin homo “human being”: uuanda trat mi man, “for man trampled me”.[4][11] The same psalms already use it for men as males and, in the plural, for a ruler's men.[11][4] Middle Dutch man is first found in Limburg about 1200, and a Limburg glossary of 1240 gives it for Latin homo.[12][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Dutch the main sense was “human being, person”, so close to the indefinite “one” that the two are hard to keep apart.[11] Middle Dutch used man for a person, an adult man, a fighting man, a workman, a vassal or servant, an owner, a husband and a male animal.[12][1] Medieval accounts justified each item man ende stic, person by person and piece by piece.[2]

The old sense “person” lives on in iemand and niemand and in set phrases: de gemene man “the common people”, op de man af “point-blank” and als de nood aan de man komt “when it comes to the crunch”.[2][3][13] Iets aan de man brengen, to find buyers for something, began with selling wares.[3][13] The sense “husband” is first dated in 1512.[14][3] On board ship a boy who had grown up voor man varen, sailed as a full hand, Winschoten noted in 1681.[15] De man in de straat is a translation of English the man in the street, and een man van veel verstand of French un homme d'esprit.[16]

Negerhollands and Sranan Tongo took over man for “man” and “husband”, and Surinamese Javanese has mang as an exclamation, “hey!”.[17][1] Through Negerhollands it reached the Creole English of the Virgin Islands, where an obsolete mani meant an effeminate man.[17][1]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch man “human being” appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[4][11][14]
  • c. 1200 – Middle Dutch man is recorded in Limburg.[12]
  • 1240 – A Limburg glossary gives man for Latin homo.[12]
  • 1336 – Man ende stic, person by person, appears in Flemish accounts.[2]
  • 1512 – Man “husband” is first recorded.[14][3]
  • 1681 – Winschoten records the sailors' phrase voor man varen.[15]
  • 1787 – A preacher speaks op den man aan, straight to the listener.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A man, an adult male human being: Bij de bushalte stond een man met een hond.[13][18][1]
  2. A person, a human being, now mainly in set phrases: op de man af, directly, without beating about the bush;[13][3] iets aan de man brengen, to find buyers for something.[13][3]
  3. (uninflected after numerals) A member of a group or crew: Het schip had dertig man aan boord.[3][2]
  4. A husband: Haar man werkt in Antwerpen.[13][1][14]
  5. A male animal.[19][12]

Interjection

  1. (colloquial) Expressing that something is bigger, stronger or more than usual: Man, wat een regen![1]

Word family

  • iemand
  • niemand
  • mannelijk
  • manschap
  • manhaftig
  • mannetje
  • mannetjesputter
  • bemannen
  • bemanning
  • ontmannen
  • overmannen
  • alleman
  • andermans
  • koopman
  • zeeman
  • voorman

Usage notes

The usual plural is mannen; after a numeral the uninflected man is used for a number of people, a continuation of the Middle Dutch plural man.[3][2] Mans occurs beside it.[3][1] In Westerwolde and Drenthe a dialect word man means “only, but”;[20] Weijnen explains it as shortened from en ware (het) niet, like maar.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  8. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut
  9. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 239
  10. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  11. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  12. ^ a b c d e Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
  13. ^ a b c d e f Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  14. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  15. ^ a b Winschoten, Wigardus à (1681), Seeman: behelsende een grondige uitlegging van de Neederlandse konst- en spreekwoorden, voor soo veel die uit de seevaart sijn ontleend, Leiden
  16. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
  17. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  18. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  19. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  20. ^ a b Weijnen, A. A. (2003), Etymologisch dialectwoordenboek, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu