In reply to:

Man is an old English word meaning human being. Person is an old Etruscan word meaning mask. People is also an old Etruscan word but the AHD doesn't say what it meant.

Person "is" an old Etruscan word meaning mask? My dictionary has the following: "[L. persona, a player's mask, perh. from Etruscan phersu, masked figures." It seems to me that person "is" an English word, one whose origin can be traced back to Etruscan.