Human | Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Human By Etymonline

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Origin and history of human

human(adj.)

mid-15c., humain, humaigne, "human," from Old French humain, umain (adj.) "of or belonging to man" (12c.), from Latin humanus "of man, human," also "humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite; learned, refined, civilized." This is in part from PIE *(dh)ghomon-, literally "earthling, earthly being," as opposed to the gods (from root *dhghem- "earth"), but there is no settled explanation of the sound changes involved. Compare Hebrew adam "man," from adamah "ground." Cognate with Old Lithuanian žmuo (accusative žmuni) "man, male person."

Human interest is from 1779. Human rights is attested by 1650s; human being by 1670s.

"Curst with hereditary love of pelf,

"I hate all human beings but myself ;

"Cross and perplex my wife, because she prov'd,

"Poor girl !—not rich enough to be belov'd."

["The Diaboliad, A Poem Dedicated to the Worst Man in His Majesty's Dominions," 1677] 

Human comedy "sum of human activities" translates French comédie humaine (Balzac); see comedy. Human relations is from 1640s as "interaction and connection among persons;" by 1916 as a department in a modern corporation; the phrase had been used from about 1912 in discussions of modern industry.

More than ever, perhaps, the successful manager must be a close student of men and their psychological processes. With the steady rise in intelligence, the increasing complexity of personal relations and the growing tendency of the public to interest themselves in industrial matters, the human element in factory management looms up with increasing importance; and no system of management can be successful that does not take this factor into account. [Dexter S. Kimball, "Principles of Industrial Organization," N.Y., 1913]

 Human resources is attested by 1907, American English, apparently originally among social Christians and based on natural resources. As a personnel management department in a government or corporation by 1977.

also from mid-15c.

human(n.)

"a human being," 1530s, from human (adj.). Its Old English equivalent, guma, survives only in disguise in bridegroom.

also from 1530s

Entries linking to human

bridegroom(n.)

"man newly married or about to be," Old English brydguma "suitor," from bryd "bride" (see bride) + guma "man," from Proto-Germanic *gumon- (source also of Old Norse gumi, Old High German gomo), literally "earthling, earthly being," as opposed to the gods, from suffixed form of PIE root *dhghem- "earth."

The ending was altered 16c. by folk etymology after groom (n.) "groom, boy, lad" (q.v.). A common Germanic compound (compare Old Saxon brudigumo, Old Norse bruðgumi, Old High German brutigomo, German Bräutigam), except in Gothic, which used bruþsfaþs, literally "bride's lord."

comedy(n.)

late 14c., "narrative with a happy ending; any composition intended for amusement," from Old French comedie (14c.), "a poem" (not in the theatrical sense) and directly from Latin comoedia, from Greek kōmōidia "a comedy, amusing spectacle," probably [Beekes] from kōmōidos "actor or singer in the revels," from kōmos "revel, carousal, merry-making, festival" + aoidos "singer, poet," from aeidein "to sing," which is related to ōidē (see ode).

The passage on the nature of comedy in the Poetic of Aristotle is unfortunately lost, but if we can trust stray hints on the subject, his definition of comedy (which applied mainly to Menander) ran parallel to that of tragedy, and described the art as a purification of certain affections of our nature, not by terror and pity, but by laughter and ridicule. [Rev. J.P. Mahaffy, "A History of Classical Greek Literature," London, 1895]

The origin of Greek komos is uncertain; perhaps it is from a PIE *komso- "praise," and cognate with Sanskrit samsa "praise, judgment." Beekes suggests Pre-Greek. The old derivation from kome "village" is not now regarded.

The classical sense of the word was "amusing play or performance with a happy ending," which is similar to the modern one, but in the Middle Ages the word meant poems and stories generally (albeit ones with happy endings), such as Dante's "Commedia." The revival of learning 16c. recovered the ancient comedies and shifted the sense of the word to "branch of drama addressing primarily the humorous and ridiculous" (opposed to tragedy). In 18c. this was somewhat restricted to "humorous, but not grossly comical, drama" (opposed to farce).

Comedy aims at entertaining by the fidelity with which it presents life as we know it, farce at raising laughter by the outrageous absurdity of the situation or characters exhibited, & burlesque at tickling the fancy of the audience by caricaturing plays or actors with whose style it is familiar. [Fowler]

The meaning "comic play or drama" is from 1550s (the first modern comedy in English usually is said to be Nicholas Udall's "Ralph Roister Doister"). The extended sense "humorous or comic incident or events in life" is from 1560s. The generalized sense of "quality of being amusing" dates from 1877. 

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Trends of human

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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homunculus"tiny human being produced artificially," 1650s, from Latin homunculus (plural homunculi), literally "little person," with -culus, diminutive suffix, + homo (genitive hominis), which technically meant "male human," but it also was used with a sense "the human race, mankind;" whilhumanemid-15c., a parallel variant of human (adj.), with a form and stress that perhaps suggest a stronger association with Latin humanus than with Old French humain. Human and humane were used interchangeably in the senses "pertaining to a human being" and "having qualities befitting humanismalong with humanist used in a variety of philosophical and theological senses 16c.-18c., especially ones concerned with the (mere) humanity of Christ, or imitating Latin humanitas "education befitting a cultivated man." See human (adj.) + -ism. In the sense "the doctrine or scienHomo sapiensthe genus of human beings, 1802, in William Turton's translation of Linnæus, coined in Modern Latin from Latin homo "man"...(technically "male human," but in logical and scholastic writing "human being;" see homunculus) + sapiens, present participle...Homo as the genus of the human race, within the order Primates, was formally instituted in Modern Latin 1758 by Linnaeus...menschof strength and honor," 1907, from Yiddish, from German Mensch, literally "man, person," from Old High German mennisco "human...," from Proto-Germanic adjective *manniska- "human," from *manna- (from PIE root *man- (1) "man")....Middle English had cognate menske "honor, reputation" (c. 1200, from Old Norse mennska "human nature"), which, as modern...mannishOld English mennisc, mænnisc "human, human-like, natural to the human species," from Proto-Germanic *manniska- (source also...Sense of "masculine, characteristic or resembling the males of the human kind" is from late 14c.; also from late 14c. in...The Proto-Germanic adjective became, in some languages, a noun meaning "human" (such as German Mensch), and in Old English...eugenics"doctrine of progress in evolution of the human race, race-culture," 1883, coined (along with adjective eugenic) by English...The investigation of human eugenics, that is, of the conditions under which men of a high type are produced....[Galton, "Human Faculty," 1883]...mankindearly 13c., man-kende, "the human race, humans collectively," from man (n.) + kind (n.). Also used occasionally in Middle English for "male persons" (late 14c.), but otherwise preserving the original gender neutrality of man (n.). For "menfolk, the masculine division of humanity,mitt1765, shortened form of mitten (q.v.) in the fashionable sense of "glove without fingers or with very short fingers of black lace or knitted silk, worn by women." In the more general sense of "glove without a separate covering for each finger" by 1812. Baseball sense of "protectiramOld English ramm "male sheep," also "battering ram, instrument for crushing or driving by impact," and the zodiac sign; earlier rom "male sheep," a West Germanic word (cognates: Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch, Old High German ram), of unknown origin. Perhaps [Klein] conne

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