What alternatives to "human" are there?

[TarionzCousin]

Hah! But I'm asking for O.L.D. Which is medieval fantasy.

I believe feudal lords and ladies called them "the great, unwashed masses."

 

[Jhaelen]

I like Mabden (it's how we're called in Moorcock's Book of Corum).

 

[Aethernaut1969]

Since the vocabulary for "human" is so limited why not use an earlier version of the word? The etymology dictionary tells me that one origin is Old French dating to the mid-15th century with a couple of variant spellings. I'd pick the most interesting: humaigne. It's an adjective form of the word and closer to "humane" than "human" but there's no reason why you couldn't use it anyway. It conveys "human" while getting around the perceived humdrum nature of the word and has the added bonus of a little lingual history.

 

[Aethernaut1969]

You could even expand it into the rest of the language for the humans:

humaignity
maigne
womaigne
maignkind

That's probably a stretch, but used sparingly it could add some flavor.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

How about "food"?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Since the vocabulary for "human" is so limited why not use an earlier version of the word? The etymology dictionary tells me that one origin is Old French dating to the mid-15th century with a couple of variant spellings. I'd pick the most interesting: humaigne. It's an adjective form of the word and closer to "humane" than "human" but there's no reason why you couldn't use it anyway. It conveys "human" while getting around the perceived humdrum nature of the word and has the added bonus of a little lingual history.

I really like this sort of idea. I don't have a need for an alternate name myself at this point, but if I do in the future that will be some good inspiration.

 

[Aethernaut1969]

I really like this sort of idea. I don't have a need for an alternate name myself at this point, but if I do in the future that will be some good inspiration.

I find both thesaurus and etymology dictionary especially helpful when I'm suffering from writing vapor lock.