“Were” is cognate to Latin vir ‘man’—cf. “werewolf” (‘man-wolf’).
“Woman” comes from a compound meaning “woman-person” (wif-mæn, cf. “wife”); a man was a wæpned-mæn (“weapon-person” or “penis-person”). The lexical narrowing of “man” to mean ‘male’ happened later, and it was indeed originally a gender-neutral term.
“Were” is cognate to Latin vir ‘man’—cf. “werewolf” (‘man-wolf’).
“Woman” comes from a compound meaning “woman-person” (wif-mæn, cf. “wife”); a man was a wæpned-mæn (“weapon-person” or “penis-person”). The lexical narrowing of “man” to mean ‘male’ happened later, and it was indeed originally a gender-neutral term.
I can’t read that without thinking of “Democracy Manifest”
Blame the Anglo-Saxons for that one. It was their idea.