Person vs Human
Dec. 3rd, 2012 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI recently realised that I'd acquired, probably from science fiction, the linguistic habit of using "human" to mean someone of this species and "person" to mean any intelligent personality. For instance, I'd tend to use "human" to mean a gamete and "person" to mean ET, but not vice versa.
Of course, there are interesting exceptions. I remember a few interesting books dealing with nonhumans in a human-dominated culture dealing with the meaning of "human" as in "only human" or "inhuman".
But does anyone else do that? Obviously 99.9% of the time the difference doesn't matter.
But I think it's useful to have this sort of distinction clear in your mind in advance. For instance: humans evolved. People have rights.
Of course, even in science fiction, it's surprisingly hard to write aliens that seem genuinely non-human. Some good examples actually come from fantasy, partly because people aren't trying.
Eg. Elves can be seen as equivalent to human sociopaths: capable of normal human behaviour, but mostly without the ability to care if they harm someone else or not. And they truly have a culture humanity can only compromise with, not really ever integrate with.
Eg. Fantasy characters unapologetically killing people from enemy tribes, or enemy species -- even if they're completely human, people go through extreme contortions to justify it, rather than accept that, in that society, that's basically the only choice.
Of course, there are interesting exceptions. I remember a few interesting books dealing with nonhumans in a human-dominated culture dealing with the meaning of "human" as in "only human" or "inhuman".
But does anyone else do that? Obviously 99.9% of the time the difference doesn't matter.
But I think it's useful to have this sort of distinction clear in your mind in advance. For instance: humans evolved. People have rights.
Of course, even in science fiction, it's surprisingly hard to write aliens that seem genuinely non-human. Some good examples actually come from fantasy, partly because people aren't trying.
Eg. Elves can be seen as equivalent to human sociopaths: capable of normal human behaviour, but mostly without the ability to care if they harm someone else or not. And they truly have a culture humanity can only compromise with, not really ever integrate with.
Eg. Fantasy characters unapologetically killing people from enemy tribes, or enemy species -- even if they're completely human, people go through extreme contortions to justify it, rather than accept that, in that society, that's basically the only choice.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-04 06:44 pm (UTC)Doing "grep human /usr/share/dict/words" and "grep person /usr/share/dict/words" is enlightening. Words like humane, humanity, humanitarian, humanly. Whereas, with "person", you get things like personal, personality, impersonation - also supersonic, but that doesn't count. There's "human nature" vs "personal nature" (that latter one could be read as "his own personal nature" or "matters of a personal nature"). You can have "in person" but not "in human". Various moral philosophers like to talk about the "separateness of persons" when complaining about utilitarianism.
etymologyonline.com:
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person (n.) Look up person at Dictionary.com
early 13c., from O.Fr. persone "human being, anyone, person" (12c., Mod.Fr. personne) and directly from L. persona "human being, person, personage; a part in a drama, assumed character," originally "mask, false face," such as those of wood or clay worn by the actors in later Roman theater. OED offers the general 19c. explanation of persona as "related to" L. personare "to sound through" (i.e. the mask as something spoken through and perhaps amplifying the voice), "but the long o makes a difficulty ...." Klein and Barnhart say it is possibly borrowed from Etruscan phersu "mask." Klein goes on to say this is ultimately of Greek origin and compares Persephone.
Of corporate entities from mid-15c. The use of -person to replace -man in compounds and avoid alleged sexist connotations is first recorded 1971 (in chairperson). In person "by bodily presence" is from 1560s. Person-to-person first recorded 1919, originally of telephone calls.
human (adj.) Look up human at Dictionary.com
mid-15c., humain, humaigne, from O.Fr. humain, umain (adj.) "of or belonging to man" (12c.), from L. humanus "of man, human," also "humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite; learned, refined, civilized," probably related to homo (gen. hominis) "man," and to humus "earth," on notion of "earthly beings," as opposed to the gods (cf. Hebrew adam "man," from adamah "ground"). Cognate with O.Lith. zmuo (acc. zmuni) "man, male person."
As a noun, from 1530s. Its Old English cognate guma (from P.Gmc. *guman-) survives only in disguise in bridegroom. Related: Humanness. Human rights attested by 1680s; human being by 1690s. Human relations is from 1916; human resources attested by 1907, American English, apparently originally among social Christians and drawn from natural resources.
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