None the less, in today's common usage, it has lost that multifaceted meaning and the preferred language today is using the 3rd person as the gender neutral pronoun, or s/he or he/she.
That's the only point I was trying to make.
In your opinion. It matters to some people.
> it's fine to use whatever you want
Be aware that if you use the "he" form with some audiences, you will get a negative reaction. As to whether this is "fine" it depends on the purpose of your communication.
No they don't. "He" is from Proto-Germanic *hi- http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=he
And even if it was derived from that word, words change mening over time so the current meaning could be radically different from the ancient meaning. For example, "silly": http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=silly
> the preferred language today is using the 3rd person as the gender neutral pronoun
"he", "she", "it" and "they" are all 3rd person pronouns. I'm guessing you meant the 3rd person plural pronoun ("they").
The singular they is actually quite old, dating from the 15th century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neu...