• Question: Why are we called humans?

    Asked by 388thaf42 to Christie, Dan, David, Dawn, Sian on 11 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Christie Waddington

      Christie Waddington answered on 11 Jun 2016:

      This is a great question! The Latin for human is “Homo sapiens”, which means “wise being”. From the Latin word “Homo”, we get the Latin word “humanus”, meaning man. In England when we used to speak old French, “humanus” became “humaine” which we used up until the mid-18th century when we spoke Middle English. After this time, “humaine” became “human” and is the word we still use today.

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 12 Jun 2016:

      What a fab answer from Christie. Seems plausible and I have nothing to add! Latin is not a strength.

    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      What a great question, I’ve never thought about it before. I think Christie has a great answer!

    • Photo: David Robertson

      David Robertson answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      I love Christies answer.

    • Photo: Dan Lewis

      Dan Lewis answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Good answer Christie, could not have explained it better.

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