Student Question
What are the origins of the word 'human' and how has its meaning changed throughout history?
Quick answer:
The word "human" originates from the Latin "humanus," meaning "of a man," and evolved through French during the Middle Ages to Middle English as "humain," similar to modern "humane." Its noun form emerged in the 1530s. The word also has ties to "humus," Latin for "soil," reflecting early agricultural roots. Over time, "human" has maintained its core meaning related to mankind, but its usage has expanded to include broader concepts of humanity and compassion.
The adjective human derives first of all from the Latin word humanus, meaning "of a man." It, then, became an French word in the Middle Ages, and after the Norman Conquest of 1066, it found its way into Middle English a little later than the time of Geoffrey Chaucer. The Middle English word was humain, which, of course, resembles modern English's word humane.
The word seems to have its origins in the mid 15th century (the 1400's). It seems to have remnants of French, Old English, and Latin.
As a noun, from 1530s. Its Old English cognate guma (from Proto-Germanic *guman-) survives only in disguise in bridegroom. (etymonline)
However, it is a bit more complicated than this. The Latin word "humus" means "soil" in Latin. It kind of makes sense that the word for "human" would crop up from "soil" because humans depend a lot on soil in the beginning during our agricultural roots.
One way or another, the word has an interesting history. You can look in some other entomology dictionaries to find information.
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