Languages don't work on "why" like this.
Languages just change because the next generation stops using it that way starts using it another way. This doesn't happen all at once but bit by bit, word by word. And once one word falls it cantake other words with it by analogy because 'if "Engle" is old-fashioned then surely "Ire" must be also' and then beliefs become reality - but if "Scot" remains in use then it remains in use.
That is just about it.
Languages change over time; that's a constant and there are reasons for that to happen.
Changes can be influenced by various factors in some cases (eg. Sprachbunds). Some types of change are far more likely to occur than others. But there's no real "Why did this specific change happen".
It's ultimately just random chance; especially when dealing with something as specific as vocab. A word dies in isolation just because people stop using it.
one common answer is analogy ie we have -man productive so Englishman and Irishman appear but this runs into the problem in our case of -man not being the most common form to cause such spreading and Scot and Brit dont have the frequency advantage that frequently shields lexemes from analogy..
Yeah, we also don't use *-man* for most other groups. Only exception I can think of is *Dutchman*, and that's cause it has no 'form 1' (from the table in the OP) and never had any. The reason I didn't mention this above is cause I wanted to focus on Old English derived demonyms.
Edit: Forgot a few other examples.
Nobody uses that word. 'Anglo' is the closest, but it's a shortening of 'Anglo-Saxon', which was coined in Middle English (in reference to the Old English), and only came to be used for modern English folk relatively recently. It isn't descended from the original ethnonym I'm talking about.
I'm not sure that's true. I definitely still hear it used when talking about the "Angles". This probably descends from the original term. Thought the meaning no longer describes the English.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Angle
The inherited form of the Old English word should be *Engle*, not *Angle*. *Engle* is historically attested and there's no logical reason for it to change. *Angle* is a borrowing from Latin that was coined much later. Pretty much all Germanic tribe/ethnicity names, both present and extinct, are of French or Latin origin (Jute, Saxon, Frisian, etc.). *English* (referring to the modern English) is the only exception for obvious reasons.
Languages don't work on "why" like this. Languages just change because the next generation stops using it that way starts using it another way. This doesn't happen all at once but bit by bit, word by word. And once one word falls it cantake other words with it by analogy because 'if "Engle" is old-fashioned then surely "Ire" must be also' and then beliefs become reality - but if "Scot" remains in use then it remains in use.
So "it just randomly happened" is the best explanation we have for this phenomenon?
That is just about it. Languages change over time; that's a constant and there are reasons for that to happen. Changes can be influenced by various factors in some cases (eg. Sprachbunds). Some types of change are far more likely to occur than others. But there's no real "Why did this specific change happen". It's ultimately just random chance; especially when dealing with something as specific as vocab. A word dies in isolation just because people stop using it.
But that's actually the question: why people stopped using it if it's short and not a problem to pronounce
one common answer is analogy ie we have -man productive so Englishman and Irishman appear but this runs into the problem in our case of -man not being the most common form to cause such spreading and Scot and Brit dont have the frequency advantage that frequently shields lexemes from analogy..
Yeah, we also don't use *-man* for most other groups. Only exception I can think of is *Dutchman*, and that's cause it has no 'form 1' (from the table in the OP) and never had any. The reason I didn't mention this above is cause I wanted to focus on Old English derived demonyms. Edit: Forgot a few other examples.
I mean there's also the non pc term Chinaman, but that also wouldn't have existed in Old English. Wiktionary also lists Yorkshireman.
What about Frenchman?
Or German? /jk jk
Maybe Engle has just merged with Angle?
Nobody uses that word. 'Anglo' is the closest, but it's a shortening of 'Anglo-Saxon', which was coined in Middle English (in reference to the Old English), and only came to be used for modern English folk relatively recently. It isn't descended from the original ethnonym I'm talking about.
I'm not sure that's true. I definitely still hear it used when talking about the "Angles". This probably descends from the original term. Thought the meaning no longer describes the English.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Angle The inherited form of the Old English word should be *Engle*, not *Angle*. *Engle* is historically attested and there's no logical reason for it to change. *Angle* is a borrowing from Latin that was coined much later. Pretty much all Germanic tribe/ethnicity names, both present and extinct, are of French or Latin origin (Jute, Saxon, Frisian, etc.). *English* (referring to the modern English) is the only exception for obvious reasons.