(nWOD) Wyff-Man and Wo-Man

[Sir Sanguine]

So in the New World of Darkness core book there's this creation story that tells how the three races of the world were created by the god-machine; First Children are angels, Second Children are demons, Third Children are humans. Then the humans rise up against the angels, killing all but seven (or nine, can't remember) of them. Four of the remaining angels curse the humans, one to condemn them to true death, one to make the animals fear them, one to make them forget the art of communicating with the god-machine, and the last one splits them into "wo-man and wyff-man, each imperfect and each forever seeking its opposite" (may not be an exact quote).

I love this story, especially the idea of the god-machine (who could be the Cosmic AC from the Last Question (http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html)!) and the curses of the angels. But I have a question: Wo-man, sure, but does anyone know where they got "wyff-man" from? Did they make it up entirely, or is it from some myth, and is it just a cipher for "male" or is it something cooler and less heteronormative?

My google skills fail me here.

[Dhavaer]

Sounds like the old english prefix for 'male' back when 'man' was gender neutral only.

[gomipile]

From http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59519029200

"Woman, as a word, is not derived from 'man' meaning male. It is a derivative of the archaic wifman (or wyfman), literally "female man" compared to wereman (or werman) meaning "male man". Naturally, this explains shape-shifting creatures in old fantasy tales like were-boars. Also, wif/wyf evolved to the modern word wife.
Like so much of the archaic English language, the 'wif' from wifman simply changed; in this case, to 'wo' and the 'were' from wereman was dropped."

I've done some research, and I'm fairly sure the above is mostly or completely true. The reason I've quoted it is that it is the most eloquent description I could find.

[Sir Sanguine]

So wo-man and wyff-man both mean "female human"? Did the WoD guys mess it up?

[gomipile]

So wo-man and wyff-man both mean "female human"? Did the WoD guys mess it up?

So it would seem.

[Mando Knight]

Or nWOD female humans are all canonically lesbians. Take your pick.

[gomipile]

Wouldn't that make all humans lesbians, then?

[Zaq]

So wo-man and wyff-man both mean "female human"? Did the WoD guys mess it up?

Pretty much. These people aren't really known for double-checking, well, anything.

[The Glyphstone]

Their single-checking record reportedly isn't that great either...

[Lord_Gareth]

That, and, y'know, the guy telling the story calls himself the Pain Prophet. His own checking might not be that great.

[Zaq]

I was trying to be charitable, but I agree.

[hewhosaysfish]

Perhaps they thought that if they referred to "wyff-man and were-man" then people would go "Were-man? Like a man that, on the full moon, turns into a man? :smallconfused:"