PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD
ALL SOURCES ↗BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-man
SOURCE
RECORD.
One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.
6 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.
This count excludes duplicate dossier-path citations. Open the claims below to see exactly how the source is used.
historical dictionarymw-man
Man — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use
- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
- DOI
- Not recorded
- SOURCE TYPE
- historical dictionary
- EXTERNAL RECORD
- OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
011
CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS
RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
RANK 113GRADE Acontext
Man was a human word before adult male became its center of gravity.
Old English mann principally meant a human being or person, while wer and wīf could mark male and female.
*man-¹
*man-¹ → *manu- → *mann- → mann → man → man
Etymology: Old English man or mon, human beingIndependently preserves the generic ancestry.
man dossier ↗truth record ↗86UNVEILING
021
SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT
DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
resolvedcontextestablished
Did Old English man mean only an adult male?
No. Its principal older sense was human being or person; wer and wīf could mark the sex distinction.
Etymology: Old English man or mon, human beingIndependently preserves the generic history.
032
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS
EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
EDGE 808supportsestablished
man → man
Present-Day English → Middle English · continuation
- SOUND
- Modern man continues Middle English man with stabilized spelling and pronunciation.
- MEANING
- A broad human-being word develops an increasingly salient adult-male sense.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology and First Known UsePublishes the Old and Middle English history and pre-twelfth-century horizon.
EDGE 809supportsestablished
man → mann
Middle English → Old English · continuation
- SOUND
- Middle English man continues Old English mann or mon.
- MEANING
- Human being and person remain central while male-specific usage expands.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English man or monPublishes the recorded English continuity.
041
LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS
WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE
manSOURCE-REPORTED
man
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for man
OPEN WITNESS 176 ↗050
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE
COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
061
GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS
JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
stage 4supports
English-speaking world
Supplies the open-ended temporal boundary.
First Known Use: before the 12th century · global070
NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
081
WORD-FAMILY REUSE
DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE
2 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.