May - 2005. I have often speculated on the origin of gender terminology. Why the word defining the female species is linked to the word male, by the addition of fe to male or wo to man ? or the letter s to he, so as to create the respective words female, woman or she ? The table below shows gender terminology in different languages. In some the vowel sound is changed to differentiate between gender, in others a new word or name is used.  English  she  he  female  male  woman  man  girl  boy  French  elle  il  femelle  mâle  femme  homme  fille  garçon  Italian  lei  lui  femmina  maschio  donna  uomo  ragazza  ragazzo  German  sie  er  frau  mann  frau  mann  mädchen  junge  Portuguese  ela  ele  fêmea  macho  mulher  homem  menina  menino  Spanish  ella  él  hembra  varón  mujer  hombre  muchacha  muchacho Etymology details derivation of the word woman and man see link Word Origins. But - I prefer to think that either homo erectus or neanderthal man, as a result of the development of intelligence and language, noticed the difference between the species and exclaimed " ah whow man!" which has since become "wo man". Think I can live with that idea more comfortably than the etymological explanation :) Link to Review the Life. Home