HOW WORDS MOVE.
HOW MEANINGS MUTATE.

Old English wīfman contains wīf as its first lexical component.

Woman or wife combines with the separately modeled human-person component mann.

Modern man continues Middle English man with stabilized spelling and pronunciation.

A broad human-being word develops an increasingly salient adult-male sense.

Middle English man continues Old English mann or mon.

Human being and person remain central while male-specific usage expands.

Old English mann reflects Proto-Germanic *mann-.

The human-person field remains visible across Germanic.

Proto-Germanic *mann- is analyzed under the extended Indo-European form *manu-.

The human-being noun continues across the reconstructed stages.

Extended *manu- is built on the root *man-¹.

The extension forms a human-being noun without invoking the separate think root.

Earlier femelle or femel was respelled female under the influence of male.

The sex-class meaning continues while surface spelling creates a misleading resemblance.

Middle English femelle continues Old French femele or femelle.

The female noun crosses from French into English.

Old French femele continues Latin fēmella.

The female noun continues through Romance.

Latin fēmella is a diminutive of fēmina.

A young-female formation continues the broader woman or female noun.

Latin fēmina is analyzed from the suffixed reduced formation *dhē-mnā-.

The reconstructed formation connects a woman noun to the suckle root without defining modern women by that history.

Reconstructed *dhē-mnā- is built on the oldest root form *dheh₁(i)-.

The formation specializes the root meaning to suck or suckle.

Modern male continues Middle English male.

The male sex-class meaning remains central.

Middle English male was borrowed from Anglo-French masle or male.

The noun and adjective cross into English.

Anglo-French masle continues Latin masculus through Romance sound change.

The male noun and adjective continue through French.

Latin masculus is a diminutive of mās.

The Latin male base receives a diminutive formation.

Modern human continues Middle English humain with modern spelling.

Human reference remains while noun and adjective uses develop.

Middle English humain was borrowed through Anglo-French humain.

The human adjective crosses through French into English.

Anglo-French humain continues Latin hūmānus through Romance.

The human adjective continues across the borrowing channel.

Latin hūmānus belongs to the Latin homō, human-being, family.

A human adjective is formed from the human noun family.

Latin homō is analyzed from the reconstructed suffixed formation *(dh)ghom-on-.

Human being is reconstructed as an earthling formation.

The earthling formation *(dh)ghom-on- is built on *dhghem-, earth.

The earth root supplies a human-being formation.

Modern person continues Middle English persone with loss of final unstressed e and stabilized spelling.

Role and individual reference develop into the modern person noun.

Middle English persone was borrowed through Anglo-French persone.

The person and character noun crosses through French into English.