"Wif" meant woman at the same time that "wer" meant man and "man" meant person.

Man changed to mean only a male person, and we lost wer except in the word "werewolf".

I’m a native English speaker and I think this is an easier jump if you know other Romance languages. In Spanish and Portuguese “woman” and “wife” are often the same word, “mujer” and “mulher” respectively.