From: Kim Bastin
Message: 34111
Date: 2004-09-11
>Miguel:_manus_ has a short /a/. So this explanation goes nowhere.
>> Perhaps original *(g?,h?)ma:nus was reshaped to establish an
>> unetymological connection with (h)u:m- ((h)u:meo, [...]
>
>Why not just by analogy with /ma:nus/ "hand"? Afterall, don't normally
>developped homo sapiens have dexterous hands? Aren't "hands" a symbol of
>humanity in the end as opposed to the be-pawed and be-hoofed creatures
>with which early Italians were normally familiar with? Unless there were
>a predominance of orangutans wobbling around Rome's city center, methinks
>that this is a reasonable guess as to this linguistic anomaly, no?