Mann, männisch, -mannschaft

Question

There are several compound words ending in -mann, such as

• Bergmann,
• Seemann,
• Fachmann,
• Zimmermann,
• Hauptmann,
• Kaufmann,
• Landsmann, for which derived forms are different from the usual Mann derivations (not all the following might exist for all these words):
• The adjective is -männisch (not -männlich)
• The "general property noun" is -mannschaft (not -männlichkeit)
• The plural is -leute (not -männer), at least traditionally.

Why is that? Clearly, most of the words I listed are names for professions that were predominantly or almost exclusively male, so it is probably not to include women.

So is it a regional thing, or a formation in some specific timeframe?

Answer 1

The word "man" (from which "Mann" is derived) is an old Germanic word and means "Mensch". Note, not "male human", but "human", without any specific gener at all. You see that still today in English, where "man" means either a male human or humanity in general, like in

Man flew to the moon.

In German you have the word "man" still meaning "somebody", also without any specific gender, like in:

Man macht sich seine Gedanken.

The Old High German word for "male human" was "wer", which lead to compounds like "Werwolf" (werewolf, a man who is sometimes a wolf) or "Wergeld" (the money you had to pay for killing a man to reimburse his family for the resulting lack of working capacity). The female equivalent was "cuen", which you still see in the English word "queen".

Most of the professions came into existence long before in German the shift from "Man(n)" meaning "human of unspecified gender" to "human of male gender" occurred, as this is a relatively new development. You have the same in the word "Mannschaft" (which could also describe a team of women) and, as you have already noticed, the plural of all your examples is "-leute", "not "-männer".

Answer 2

German has two different words that both share the same singular forms in all grammatical cases, but they differ in their plural forms:

1. A masculine adult person (not a woman, not a child)

grammatical case	singular	plural
Nominative	der Mann	die Männer
Genitive	des Mannes	der Männer
Dative	dem Mann	den Männern
Accusative	den Mann	die Männer

Typical usages of the plural forms:

Es waren nur drei Männer und fünf Frauen anwesend.
Die Haare der Männer waren schon etwas grau.
Den Männern gelang es nicht, wach zu bleiben.
Bei diesem schlechten Licht waren die Männer kaum zu erkennen.

Adjective derived from this noun: männlich

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2. A member of a group of men (often a fighting group)

grammatical case	singular	plural 1	plural 2
Nominative	der Mann	die Mannen	drei Mann
Genitive	des Mannes	der Mannen	(dreier Mann)
Dative	dem Mann	den Mannen	(drei Mann)
Accusative	den Mann	die Mannen	drei Mann

Plural 2 is used only in combination with numerals and indefinite pronouns and most often in fixed phrases with are used only in nominative case and sometimes in accusative case, but extremely rarely (never?) in genitive or dative case.

Typical usages of the plural forms:

Die Mannen des Barons stürmten die Burg.
Die Trikots der Mannen aus dem Nachbardorf waren grün.
Den Mannen, die Ludwig um sich geschart hatte, gelang am Ende doch noch ein Sieg.
Die Zuschauer auf den Tribünen feuerten ihre Mannen lautstark an.

Alle Mann an Bord.
Hundert Mann und kein Befehl.
Für diesen Einsatz brauche ich 500 Mann.

The compound nouns Kaufmann, Seemann etc. contain this second kind of Mann (member of a group) without any fighting connotation. But when used in such a combination, none of the plural forms shown above is used. Instead a word with the meaning "member of a group of people" is used, of which no singular forms exists: Leute. And therefore we have Kaufleute, Seeleute etc. but no Kaufmannen or Seemannen. Also the plural forms Kaufmänner, Seemänner etc. exist, because die Männer is much more often used than die Mannen or die Mann. But Männer explicitly excludes women, while Leute includes all genders.

Adjective derived from this noun: männisch

This adjective is rarely used alone. But it is the preferred adjective in the adjectives derived from Kaufmann, Seemann etc.: kaufmännisch, seemännisch, ...

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Männlichkeit is a property noun. But Mannschaft is not. Männlichkeit is the name of a property. But Mannschaft is the name of a group, not of a property. The noun Mannschaftlichkeit is a property noun, but it is the substantivized form of an adjectivized form of a compound form of a noun, while Kameradschaftlichkeit is a much more accepted alternative with the same meaning.

The suffix -schaft in Mannschaft is used to generate a noun that means a collection of people (Anhängerschaft, Herrschaft, Kundschaft, Sippschaft). (The same suffix can also be used to generate words with other meanings: Ortschaft, Wirtschaft, ...)

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Mann is not the only German word, that exists in two variations with different meanings that share the same singular form but differ in their plural forms. Here are two other examples:

• das Wort

  Der Prediger sprach weise Worte.
  Aber ich kannte viele Wörter, die er verwendet hat, nicht.

• das Land

  Ich entschloss mich, mit meinem Wohnmobil durch die Lande zu ziehen.
  Dabei durchquerte ich viele Länder.

Answer 3

[Also Landsmann - Landsleute, Feuerwehrmann (both plurals in use: -männer and -leute)]. (i) The transition to the plural form probably indicates that people of these professions form (like medieval guilds) groups of some common behaviourial patterns/opinions/attitudes. (ii) Even today there is a frequent informal greeting "Hey Leute!" addressing a group of friends, of comrades, or members of a sports team.