Editing Alternative spellings of woman (section)

==Old English==
{{main|Woman#Etymology}}
The word ''woman'' is derived from the [[Old English]] word {{lang|ang|[[wiktionary:wifmann|wīfmann]]}} ('woman-person'), which is formed from {{lang|ang|[[wiktionary:wif#Old English|wīf]]}} (the source of ''[[wife]]''), then meaning 'woman', and {{lang|ang|[[wiktionary:mann#Old English|mann]]}} (the source of ''[[man]]''), then meaning 'person, human', originally without connotations of gender.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scupin |first1=Raymond |title=Cultural anthropology: a global perspective |date=2012 |publisher=Pearson |location=Boston |isbn=978-0205158805 |page=96 |edition=8th}} (for derivation of 'woman' from 'man')</ref><ref>"wīfmann": Bosworth & Toller, ''Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'' (Oxford, 1898–1921) p. 1219. The spelling "wifman" also occurs: C.T. Onions, ''[[Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology]]'' (Oxford, 1966) p. 1011</ref> ''Man'' took on its additional masculine meaning in the [[Late Middle English]] period, replacing the now-obsolete word {{lang|enm|[[wiktionary:wer#Middle English|wer]]}}.<ref>''Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition'', entry for "woman".</ref> This has created the present situation with ''man'' bearing a dual meaning—either masculine or nonspecific.<ref>''Merriam Webster'', entry for "man".</ref>

[[Old English]] had a system of [[grammatical gender]], whereby every [[noun]] was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, similar to modern German. In Old English sources, the word ''man'' was grammatically masculine but gender-neutral in meaning. One of its meanings was similar to the [[modern English]] usage of "[[One (pronoun)|one]]" as a gender-neutral [[indefinite pronoun]] (compare with ''mankind'' (''man''&nbsp;+ ''kind''), which means the human race, and German {{wikt-lang|de|man}}, which has retained the indefinite pronoun meaning to the modern day).<ref>In Latin similarly, there is "''homo''" or "''hominis''" then "''vir''" or "''viris''" and "''mulier''" or "''mulieris''"; respectively meaning "man" (gender-neutral) then "adult male" and "adult female".</ref> The words ''wer'' and ''wīf'' were used, when necessary, to specify a man or woman, respectively. Combining them into ''werman'' or ''wīfman'' expressed the concept of "any man" or "any woman".<ref>[[Dale Spender|Spender, Dale]]. ''Man-Made Language''.</ref><ref>Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift. ''The Handbook of Non-Sexist Language''.</ref> Some feminist writers have suggested that this more symmetrical usage reflected more egalitarian notions of gender at the time.<ref name="neeru" />