An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Mann
Mann, m., ‘man, husband,’ from MidHG. man(nn), OHG. man(nn), m., ‘person, man.’ The general meaning ‘person’ still appears in ModHG. jemand, niemand, as well as in the pron. discussed under man. In AS., man, mǫn (n equiv. to nn), might be used equally of a male or female, although the former sense preponderated; AS. man, ‘person, man, woman,’ E. man, OIc. maðr, Goth. manna, ‘person, man.’ The word followed the declension of the two stems mann- and mannan- (thus in Goth., AS., OHG., and MidHG.); from the latter the modern plur. Mannen has been obtained. Goth. and Teut. mann- for manw- is based on an older manu- (like Kinn on kennu-, genu-; see also dünn). This Aryan mánu-, ‘person,’ appears also in Ind., but it was used also as Manu, ‘the father of mankind.’ To this corresponds the Teut. Mannus in Tacitus, ‘the progenitor of the West Teutons’; comp. further Sans. manus, m., and manuša, ‘person,’ perhaps also OSlov. mążĭ, ‘man.’ The Ind. manu- is usually connected with the root man, ‘to think’ (comp. mahnen); in that case the orig. sense is ‘thinking being.’ This cannot, however, be definitely regarded as the primit. source of the word. It is scarcely probable that the primit. Aryans considered ‘thinking’ to be the essential characteristic of a man. We should rather assume from the earliest Aryan literature, the OInd. Vedas, that the primit. Aryan felt he was closely allied to the brutes, since the Vedic Indian actually calls himself paçu, ‘beast.’ The literal meaning of Aryan manu-, ‘person,’ can hardly be ascertained now. See Mensch.