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Originally Posted by Tanja I am turning over the etymology of the word woman in my mind right now. It seems rather interesting... 
The etymology dictionary gives the following info: woman - O.E. wimman (pl. wimmen), alteration of wifman (pl. wifmen), a compound of wif "woman" (see wife) + man "human being."
I learnt the same at my History of English class as well. And I have also believed that it is so....what can we do with the history...
But now...I've got some doubts...
I bumped into the word womb in the book I read... Can you see the total similarity?
woman - [WUM8n]
womb - [WUM]
Isn't that tricky??? 
To my mind, etymology should be as follows:
womb + man = woman (a human with a womb)
Funny, isnt' it? |
Very cool indeed. :)
Woe is woman.
wo- - O.E. wif; wif+man > wimman > woman
womb - O.E. wamb, womb "belly, uterus"
Here's a site I know you'll enjoy:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.html