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But "mās" is also Latin for man? We see that used with feminine/masculine. Is there a reason it would be different in this case?
by LukeShu 12y ago
But "mās" is also Latin for man? We see that used with feminine/masculine. Is there a reason it would be different in this case?
- innguest 12y agoYes, there is a reason. woman -> femina, related to women -> femininus man -> vir, related to men -> mas As you can see it seems even the Romans did not like to make derivations from the old, old word "vir" (also see etymology for "world"). Feminine is from 'femininus', not 'femina'. Masculine is from 'mas' -> 'masculus' (diminutive of 'mas') -> 'masculinus', not 'vir'. 'Mas' was never used to mean "man", only "male". If instead of "feminism", the movement were called "femininism", then the opposite would indeed be "masculinism" as you suggest. But the opposite of "feminism" must be "virilism".