Man - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

MAN, the word common to Teutonic languages for a single person of the human race, of either sex, the Lat. homo, and Gr. iivepw7ros; also for the human race collectively, and for a fullgrown adult male human being. Teutonic languages, other than English, have usually adopted a derivative in the first sense, e.g. German Mensch. Philologists are not in agreement as to whether the Sanskrit manu is the direct source, or whether both are to be traced to a common root. Doubt also is thrown on the theory that the word is to be referred to the Indo-Germanic root, men, meaning "to think," seen in "mind," man being essentially the thinking or intelligent animal. (See ANTHRO POLOGY.)