Whose story?

A few weeks ago, during a discussion with a couple from Egypt in a common friend's home, the guy asked what the reason for the word 'History' was and went on to explain. He said it was derived from "His Story", 'he' being the 'man' - the 'story of the man'. Quite an interesting info it was and we discussed on how sexist man has been for centuries.. Though the countries, rivers and ships - which were considered to be very powerful then, were referred to as female, when it came to naming the ultimate collection of all the past, it had to be 'his(s)tory'.. Hmm..

I came home and checked it out in Wiki. The etymology was quite different but what he had said still lingers in my mind, and I think he was probably right. What an oxymoron it would be to say "I am studying the history of my motherland"!