Something new I did not know about till today ..

The original meaning of the English word “man” (from Proto-Germanic mannaz, “person”) and words derived therefrom was used as a designation for any or all human beings regardless of gender or age. This is the oldest usage of “man”. In Old English the words wer and wyf (also wæpman and wifman) were used to refer to “a male” and “a female” respectively, and the word “man” was gender neutral. (This is still seen even today in certain words. For an example, there is the word “werewolf”, which literally means man-wolf.) Later, in Middle English, “man” displaced wer as the term for male humans, whilst wyfman, which eventually evolved into “woman”, was retained for female humans. Since then, the word “man” has been used to refer both to humanity as a whole (e.g., “Mankind”) and to male humans.