Mythological human with acquired ability to transform into a wolflike creature
Werewolf
|
Grouping
| Mythology
|
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Similar entities
| Skinwalker
|
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Folklore
| Worldwide
|
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Other name(s)
| Lycanthrope
|
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In
folklore
, a
werewolf
[a]
(from
Old English
werwulf
'man-wolf'), or occasionally
lycanthrope
[b]
(from
Ancient Greek
λυκ?νθρωπο?
,
lykanthr?pos
, 'wolf-human') is an individual who can
shape-shift
into a
wolf
(or, especially in modern film, a
therianthropic
hybrid
wolf-like creature), either purposely or after being placed under a
curse
or affliction (often a bite or the occasional scratch from another werewolf), with the transformations occurring on the night of a
full moon
.
[c]
Early sources for belief in this ability or affliction, called
lycanthropy
,
[d]
are
Petronius
(27?66) and
Gervase of Tilbury
(1150?1228).
The werewolf is a widespread concept in
European folklore
, existing in many variants, which are related by a common development of a
Christian interpretation
of underlying European folklore developed during the
medieval period
. From the early modern period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the
New World
with
colonialism
. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in
witches
, in the course of the
Late Middle Ages
and the
early modern period
. Like the witchcraft trials as a whole, the trial of supposed werewolves emerged in what is now
Switzerland
(especially the
Valais
and
Vaud
) in the early 15th century and spread throughout Europe in the 16th, peaking in the 17th and subsiding by the 18th century.
The persecution of werewolves and the associated folklore is an integral part of the "
witch-hunt
" phenomenon, albeit a marginal one, accusations of lycanthropy being involved in only a small fraction of witchcraft trials.
[e]
During the early period, accusations of lycanthropy (transformation into a wolf) were mixed with accusations of wolf-riding or wolf-charming. The case of
Peter Stumpp
(1589) led to a significant peak in both interest in and
persecution of supposed werewolves
, primarily in French-speaking and German-speaking Europe. The phenomenon persisted longest in Bavaria and Austria, with persecution of
wolf-charmers
recorded until well after 1650, the final cases taking place in the early 18th century in
Carinthia
and
Styria
.
[f]
After the end of the witch-trials, the werewolf became of interest in
folklore studies
and in the emerging
Gothic horror
genre;
werewolf fiction
as a genre has pre-modern precedents in medieval
romances
(e.g.
Bisclavret
and
Guillaume de Palerme
) and developed in the 18th century out of the "semi-fictional"
chapbook
tradition. The trappings of horror literature in the 20th century became part of the horror and fantasy genre of modern
popular culture
.
Names
The
Modern English
werewolf
descends from the
Old English
wer(e)wulf
, which is a
cognate
of
Middle Dutch
weerwolf
,
Middle Low German
warwulf
,
werwulf
,
Middle High German
werwolf
, and
West Frisian
waer-ul(e)
.
[1]
These terms are generally derived from a
Proto-Germanic
form
reconstructed
as
*wira-wulfaz
('man-wolf'), itself from an earlier
Pre-Germanic
form *
wiro-wulpos
.
[3]
An alternative reconstruction, *
wazi-wulfaz
('wolf-clothed'), would bring the Germanic
compound
closer to the Slavic meaning,
with other semantic parallels in
Old Norse
ulfheðnar
('wolf-skinned') and
ulfheðinn
('wolf-coat'),
Old Irish
luchthonn
('wolf-skin'), and
Sanskrit
V?k?jina
('Wolf-skin').
The Norse branch underwent
taboo modifications
, with Old Norse
vargulfr
(only attested as a translation of
Old French
garwaf
~
garwal(f)
from
Marie's lay
of
Bisclavret
) replacing *
wiraz
('man') with
vargr
('wolf, outlaw'), perhaps under the influence of the Old French expression
leus warous ~ lous garous
(modern
loup-garou
), which literally means 'wolf-werewolf'.
[7]
The modern Norse form
varulv
(Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) was either borrowed from Middle Low German
werwulf
,
[7]
or else derived from an unattested Old Norse
*varulfr
, posited as the regular descendant of Proto-Germanic *
wira-wulfaz
.
[3]
An
Old Frankish
form
*werwolf
is inferred from the Middle Low German variant and was most likely borrowed into
Old Norman
garwa(l)f
~
garo(u)l
, with regular
Germanic
?
Romance
correspondence
w-
/
g-
(cf.
William
/
Guillaume
,
Wales
/
Galles
, etc.).
[7]
[8]
The
Proto-Slavic
noun *
vьlko-dlakь
, meaning 'wolf-haired' (cf. *
dlaka
, 'animal hair, fur'),
can be reconstructed from Serbian
vukodlak
,
Slovenian
vołkodl?k
, and Czech
vlkodlak
, although formal variations in
Slavic languages
(*
vьrdl(j)ak
, *
vьlkdolk
, *
vьlklak
) and the late attestation of some forms pose difficulties in tracing the origin of the term.
The
Greek
Vrykolakas
and
Romanian
Vircolac
, designating vampire-like creatures in Balkan folklores, were borrowed from Slavic languages.
[11]
[12]
The same form is also found in other non-Slavic languages of the region, such as Albanian
vurvolak
and Turkish
vurkolak.
[12]
Bulgarian
vьrkolak
and
Church Slavonic
vurkolak
may be interpreted as back-borrowings from Greek.
The name
vurdalak
(вурдалак; 'ghoul, revenant') first appeared in Russian poet
Alexander Pushkin
's work
Pesni
, published in 1835. The source of Pushkin's distinctive form remains debated in scholarship.
[12]
A
Proto-Celtic
noun *
wiro-k?
, meaning 'man-dog', has been reconstructed from
Celtiberian
uiroku
, the
Old Brittonic
place-name
Viroconium
(< *
wiroconion
, 'place of man-dogs, i.e. werewolves'), the
Old Irish
noun
ferchu
('male dog, fierce dog'), and the medieval personal names
Guurci
(
Old Welsh
) and
Gurki
(
Old Breton
). Wolves were metaphorically designated as 'dogs' in Celtic cultures.
The modern term
lycanthropy
comes from
Ancient Greek
lukanthr?pia
(λυκανθρωπ?α), itself from
lukanthr?pos
(λυκ?νθρωπο?), meaning 'wolf-man'. Ancient writers used the term solely in the context of
clinical lycanthropy
, a condition in which the patient imagined himself to be a wolf. Modern writers later used
lycanthrope
as a synonym of
werewolf
, referring to a person who, according to medieval superstition, could assume the form of wolves.
[15]
History
Indo-European comparative mythology
The European motif of the devilish werewolf devouring human flesh harks back to a common development during the
Middle Ages
in the context of Christianity, although stories of humans turning into wolves take their roots in earlier pre-Christian beliefs.
Their underlying common origin can be traced back to
Proto-Indo-European mythology
, where
lycanthropy
is reconstructed as an aspect of the initiation of the
koryos
warrior class, which may have included a cult focused on dogs and wolves identified with an age grade of young, unmarried warriors.
The standard comparative overview of this aspect of Indo-European mythology is McCone (1987).
[18]
Classical antiquity
A few references to men changing into wolves are found in
Ancient Greek literature
and
Folklore
.
Herodotus
, in his
Histories
,
[19]
wrote that according to what the Scythians and the Greeks settled in Scythia told him, the
Neuri
which was a tribe to the north-east of
Scythia
, were all transformed into wolves once every year for several days, and then changed back to their human shape. He added that he is not convinced by the story but the locals swear to its truth.
[20]
This tale was also mentioned by
Pomponius Mela
.
[21]
In the second century BC, the Greek geographer
Pausanias
related the story of King
Lycaon
of Arcadia, who was transformed into a wolf because he had sacrificed a child in the altar of Zeus Lycaeus.
[22]
In the version of the legend told by
Ovid
in his
Metamorphoses
,
[23]
when
Zeus
visits Lycaon disguised as a common man, Lycaon wants to test if he is really a god. To that end, he kills a Molossian hostage and serve his entrails to Zeus. Disgusted, the god turns Lycaon into a wolf. However, in other accounts of the legend, like that of
Apollodorus'
Bibliotheca
,
[24]
Zeus blasts him and his sons with thunderbolts as punishment.
Pausanias also relates the story of an Arcadian man called
Damarchus
of Parrhasia, who was turned into a wolf after tasting the entrails of a human child sacrificed to
Zeus
Lycaeus. He was restored to human form 10 years later and went on to become an Olympic champion.
[25]
This tale is also recounted by
Pliny the Elder
, who calls the man Demaenetus quoting
Agriopas
.
[26]
According to Pausanias, this was not a one-off event, but that men have been transformed into wolves during the sacrifices to Zeus Lycaeus since the time of Lycaon. If they abstain of tasting human flesh while being wolves, they would be restored to human form nine years later, but if they do not abstain they will remain wolves forever.
[22]
Lykos (Λ?κο?) of Athens was a wolf-shaped herο, whose shrine stood by the jurycourt, and the first jurors were named after him.
[27]
Pliny the Elder likewise recounts another tale of lycanthropy. Quoting Euanthes,
[28]
he mentions that in
Arcadia
, once a year a man was chosen by lot from the Anthus' clan. The chosen man was escorted to a marsh in the area, where he hung his clothes into an
oak
tree, swam across the marsh and transformed into a wolf, joining a
pack
for nine years. If during these nine years he refrained from tasting human flesh, he returned to the same marsh, swam back and recovered his previous human form, with nine years added to his appearance.
[29]
Ovid also relates stories of men who roamed the woods of
Arcadia
in the form of wolves.
[30]
[31]
Virgil
, in his poetic work
Eclogues
, wrote about a man called Moeris, who used herbs and poisons picked in his native
Pontus
to turn himself into a wolf.
[32]
In
prose
, the
Satyricon
, written circa AD 60 by
Gaius Petronius Arbiter
, one of the characters, Niceros, tells a story at a banquet about a friend who turned into a wolf (chs. 61?62). He describes the incident as follows, "When I look for my buddy I see he'd stripped and piled his clothes by the roadside... He pees in a circle round his clothes and then, just like that, turns into a wolf!... after he turned into a wolf he started howling and then ran off into the woods."
[33]
Early Christian authors also mentioned werewolves. In
The City of God
,
Augustine of Hippo
gives an account similar to that found in Pliny the Elder. Augustine explains that "It is very generally believed that by certain witches spells men may be turned into wolves..."
[34]
Physical metamorphosis was also mentioned in the
Capitulatum Episcopi
, attributed to the
Council of Ancyra
in the 4th century, which became the Church's doctrinal text in relation to magic, witches, and transformations such as those of werewolves.
[35]
The
Capitulatum Episcopi
states that "Whoever believes that anything can be...transformed into another species or likeness, except by God Himself...is beyond doubt an infidel.'
[35]
In these works of Roman writers, werewolves often receive the name
versipellis
("turnskin"). Augustine instead uses the phrase "in lupum fuisse mutatum" (changed into the form of a wolf) to describe the physical metamorphosis of werewolves, which is similar to phrases used in the medieval period.
Middle Ages
There is evidence of widespread belief in werewolves in medieval Europe. This evidence spans much of the Continent, as well as the British Isles. Werewolves were mentioned in Medieval law codes, such as that of
King Cnut
, whose
Ecclesiastical Ordinances
inform us that the codes aim to ensure that "...the madly audacious werewolf do not too widely devastate, nor bite too many of the spiritual flock."
Liutprand of Cremona
reports a rumor that Bajan, son of
Simeon I of Bulgaria
, could use magic to turn himself into a wolf.
[37]
The works of Augustine of Hippo had a large influence on the development of Western Christianity, and were widely read by churchmen of the medieval period; and these churchmen occasionally discussed werewolves in their works. Famous examples include
Gerald of Wales
's
Werewolves of Ossory
, found in his
Topographica Hibernica
, and in
Gervase of Tilbury's
Otia Imperiala
,
both written for royal audiences.
Gervase reveals to the reader that belief in such transformations (he also mentions women turning into cats and into snakes) was widespread across Europe; he uses the phrase "que ita dinoscuntur" when discussing these metamorphoses, which translates to "it is known". Gervase, who was writing in Germany, also tells the reader that the transformation of men into wolves cannot be easily dismissed, for "...in England we have often seen men change into wolves" ("Vidimus enim frequenter in Anglia per lunationes homines in lupos mutari...").
[38]
Further evidence of the widespread belief in werewolves and other human-animal transformations can be seen in theological attacks made against such beliefs.
Conrad of Hirsau
, writing in the 11th century, forbids the reading of stories in which a person's reason is obscured following such a transformation.
[39]
Conrad specifically refers to the tales of Ovid in his tract. Pseudo-Augustine, writing in the 12th century, follows Augustine of Hippo's argument that no physical transformation can be made by any but God, stating that "...the body corporeally [cannot], be changed into the material limbs of any animal.'
[40]
Marie de France
's poem
Bisclavret
(c. 1200) is another example, in which the eponymous nobleman Bisclavret, for reasons not described, had to transform into a wolf every week. When his treacherous wife stole his clothing needed to restore his human form, he escaped the king's wolf hunt by imploring the king for mercy and accompanied the king thereafter. His behavior at court was gentle, until his wife and her new husband appeared at court, so much so that his hateful attack on the couple was deemed justly motivated, and the truth was revealed. This
lai
(a type of Breton sung-poem) follows many themes found within other werewolf tales ? the removal of clothing and attempting to refrain from the consumption of human flesh can be found in Pliny the Elder, as well as in the second of Gervase of Tilbury's werewolf stories, about a werewolf by the name of Chaucevaire. Marie also reveals to us the existence of werewolf belief in Breton and Norman France, by telling us the Franco-Norman word for werewolf:
garwulf,
which, she explains, are common in that part of France, where "...many men turned into werewolves".
[41]
Gervase also supports this terminology when he tells us that the French use the term "
gerulfi"
to describe what the English call "werewolves".
[42]
Melion
and
Biclarel
are two anonymous lais that share the theme of a werewolf knight being betrayed by his wife.
[43]
The German word
werwolf
is recorded by
Burchard von Worms
in the 11th century, and by
Bertold of Regensburg
in the 13th, but is not recorded in all of medieval German poetry or fiction. While Baring-Gould argues that references to werewolves were also rare in England, presumably because whatever significance the "wolf-men" of Germanic paganism had carried, the associated beliefs and practices had been successfully repressed after Christianization (or if they persisted, they did so outside of the sphere of literacy available to us), we have sources other than those mentioned above.
[44]
Such examples of werewolves in Ireland and the British Isles can be found in the work of the 9th century Welsh monk
Nennius
; female werewolves appear in the Irish work
Tales of the Elders
, from the 12th century; and Welsh werewolves in the 12th to 13th century work,
Mabinogion
.
Germanic pagan traditions associated with wolf-men persisted longest in the Scandinavian
Viking Age
.
Harald I of Norway
is known to have had a body of
Ulfhednar
(wolf-coated [men]), which are mentioned in the Vatnsdœla, Haraldskvæði, and the
Volsunga saga
, and resemble some werewolf legends. The Ulfhednar were fighters similar to the berserkers, though they dressed in
wolf hides
rather than those of bears and were reputed to channel the spirits of these animals to enhance effectiveness in battle.
[45]
These warriors were resistant to pain and killed viciously in battle, much like wild animals. Ulfhednar and berserkers are closely associated with the Norse god
Odin
.
The Scandinavian traditions of this period may have spread to
Kievan Rus'
, giving rise to the Slavic "werewolf" tales. The 11th-century
Belarusian
Prince
Vseslav of Polotsk
was considered to have been a werewolf, capable of moving at superhuman speeds, as recounted in
The Tale of Igor's Campaign
:
Vseslav the prince judged men; as prince, he ruled towns; but at night he prowled in the guise of a wolf. From Kiev, prowling, he reached, before the cocks crew,
Tmutorokan
. The path of Great Sun, as a wolf, prowling, he crossed. For him in Polotsk they rang for matins early at St. Sophia the bells; but he heard the ringing in Kiev.
The situation as described during the medieval period gives rise to the dual form of werewolf folklore in Early Modern Europe. On one hand the "Germanic" werewolf, which becomes associated with the
witchcraft panic
, and on the other hand the "Slavic" werewolf or
vlkolak
, which becomes associated with the concept of the
revenant
or "vampire". The "eastern" werewolf-vampire is found in the folklore of Central and Eastern Europe, including Hungary, Romania and the Balkans, while the "western" werewolf-sorcerer is found in France, German-speaking Europe and in the Baltic.
Being a werewolf was a common accusation in witch trials throughout their history, and it featured even in the
Valais witch trials
, one of the earliest such trials altogether, in the first half of the 15th century.
[46]
In 1539,
Martin Luther
used the form
beerwolf
to describe a hypothetical ruler worse than a tyrant who must be resisted.
[47]
In '
Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus
' (1555),
Olaus Magnus
describes (Book 18, Chapter 45) an annual assembly of werewolves near the Lithuania-Courland border. The participants, including Lithuanian nobility and werewolves from the surrounding areas, gather to test their strength by attempting to jump over a castle wall's ruins. Those who succeed are regarded as strong, while weaker participants are punished with whippings.
[48]
Early modern history
There were numerous reports of werewolf attacks ? and consequent court trials ? in 16th-century France. In some of the cases there was clear evidence against the accused of murder and
cannibalism
, but no association with wolves. In other cases people have been terrified by such creatures, such as that of
Gilles Garnier
in
Dole
in 1573, who was convicted of being a werewolf.
[49]
A peak of attention to lycanthropy came in the late 16th to early 17th century, as part of the
European witch-hunts
.
A number of treatises on werewolves were written in France during 1595 and 1615. Werewolves were sighted in 1598 in
Anjou
, and a teenage werewolf was sentenced to life imprisonment in
Bordeaux
in 1603.
Henry Boguet
wrote a lengthy chapter about werewolves in 1602. In the Vaud, werewolves were convicted in 1602 and in 1624. A treatise by a Vaud pastor in 1653, however, argued that lycanthropy was purely an illusion. After this, the only further record from the Vaud dates to 1670: it is that of a boy who claimed he and his mother could change themselves into wolves, which was, however, not taken seriously. At the beginning of the 17th century
witchcraft
was prosecuted by
James I of England
, who regarded "warwoolfes" as victims of delusion induced by "a natural superabundance of melancholic".
[50]
After 1650, belief in Lycanthropy had mostly disappeared from French-speaking Europe, as evidenced in
Diderot's Encyclopedia
, which attributed reports of lycanthropy to a "disorder of the brain",
[51]
although there were continuing reports of extraordinary wolflike beasts but they were not considered to be werewolves. One such report concerned the
Beast of Gevaudan
which terrorized the general area of the
former province
of
Gevaudan
, now called
Lozere
, in south-central France; from the years 1764 to 1767, it killed upwards of 80 men, women, and children.
The part of Europe which showed more vigorous interest in werewolves after 1650 was the
Holy Roman Empire
. At least nine works on lycanthropy were printed in Germany between 1649 and 1679. In the Austrian and Bavarian Alps, belief in werewolves persisted well into the 18th century.
In any case, as late as in 1853, in
Galicia
, northwestern Spain,
Manuel Blanco Romasanta
was judged and condemned as the author of a number of murders, but he claimed to be not guilty because of his condition of
lobishome
, werewolf.
Until the 20th century,
wolf attacks on humans
were an occasional, but still widespread, feature of life in Europe.
[53]
Some scholars have suggested that it was inevitable that wolves, being the most feared predators in Europe, were projected into the folklore of evil shapeshifters. This is said to be corroborated by the fact that areas devoid of wolves typically use different kinds of predator to fill the niche;
werehyenas
in Africa,
weretigers
in India,
[45]
as well as
werepumas
("
runa uturuncu
")
[54]
[55]
and
werejaguars
("
yaguarate-aba
" or "
tigre-capiango
")
[56]
[57]
in southern South America.
An idea is explored in
Sabine Baring-Gould
's work
The Book of Werewolves
is that werewolf legends may have been used to explain
serial killings
. Perhaps the most infamous example is the case of
Peter Stumpp
(executed in 1589), the German farmer, and alleged serial killer and
cannibal
, also known as the Werewolf of Bedburg.
[58]
Asian cultures
Common
Turkic folklore
holds a different, reverential light to the werewolf legends in that Turkic Central Asian
shamans
after performing long and arduous rites would voluntarily be able to transform into the humanoid "Kurtadam" (literally meaning Wolfman). Since the wolf was the totemic ancestor animal of the Turkic peoples, they would be respectful of any shaman who was in such a form.
Lycanthropy as a medical condition
Some modern researchers have tried to explain the reports of werewolf behaviour with recognised medical conditions. Dr Lee Illis of
Guy's Hospital
in London wrote a paper in 1963 entitled
On Porphyria and the Aetiology of Werewolves
in which he argues that historical accounts on werewolves could have in fact been referring to victims of congenital
porphyria
, stating how the symptoms of
photosensitivity
, reddish teeth, and
psychosis
could have been grounds for accusing a person of being a werewolf.
[59]
This is however argued against by Woodward, who points out how mythological werewolves were almost invariably portrayed as resembling true wolves and that their human forms were rarely physically conspicuous as porphyria victims.
[45]
Others have pointed out the possibility of historical werewolves having been people with
hypertrichosis
, a hereditary condition manifesting itself in excessive hair growth. However, Woodward dismissed the possibility, as the rarity of the disease ruled it out from happening on a large scale as werewolf cases were in medieval Europe.
[45]
Woodward suggested
rabies
as the origin of werewolf beliefs, claiming remarkable similarities between the symptoms of that disease and some of the legends. Woodward focused on the idea that being bitten by a werewolf could result in the victim turning into one, which suggested the idea of a transmittable disease like rabies.
[45]
However, the idea that lycanthropy could be transmitted in this way is not part of the original myths and legends and only appears in relatively recent beliefs. Lycanthropy can also be met with as the main content of a delusion, for example, the case of a woman has been reported who during episodes of acute psychosis complained of becoming four different species of animals.
[60]
Folk beliefs
Characteristics
The beliefs classed together under lycanthropy are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed; may be his
double
whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged; may be his
soul
, which goes forth seeking whomever it may devour, leaving its body in a
state of trance
; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a
familiar spirit
, whose intimate connection with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being.
Werewolves were said in European folklore to bear tell-tale physical traits even in their human form. These included the
meeting of both eyebrows
at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low-set ears and a swinging stride. One method of identifying a werewolf in its human form was to cut the flesh of the accused, under the pretense that fur would be seen within the wound. A Russian superstition recalls a werewolf can be recognized by bristles under the tongue.
[45]
The appearance of a werewolf in its animal form varies from culture to culture, though it is most commonly portrayed as being indistinguishable from ordinary wolves save for the fact that it has no tail (a trait thought characteristic of witches in animal form), is often larger, and retains human eyes and a voice. According to some Swedish accounts, the werewolf could be distinguished from a regular wolf by the fact that it would run on three legs, stretching the fourth one backwards to look like a tail.
[61]
After returning to their human forms, werewolves are usually documented as becoming weak, debilitated and undergoing painful nervous depression.
[45]
One universally reviled trait in medieval Europe was the werewolf's habit of devouring recently buried corpses, a trait that is documented extensively, particularly in the
Annales Medico-psychologiques
in the 19th century.
[45]
Becoming a werewolf
Various methods for becoming a werewolf have been reported, one of the simplest being the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolfskin, probably as a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin (which also is frequently described).
[62]
In other cases, the body is rubbed with a
magic salve
.
[62]
Drinking rainwater out of the footprint of the animal in question or from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis.
[63]
The 16th-century Swedish writer
Olaus Magnus
says that the
Livonian
werewolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston in his
Songs of the Russian People
gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia. In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that a man or woman could turn into a werewolf if he or she, on a certain
Wednesday
or
Friday
, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his or her face.
[45]
In other cases, the transformation was supposedly accomplished by
Satanic
allegiance for the most loathsome ends, often for the sake of sating a craving for human flesh. "The werewolves", writes
Richard Verstegan
(
Restitution of Decayed Intelligence
, 1628),
are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an ointment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, does not only unto the view of others seem as wolves, but to their own thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they wear the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in worrying and killing, and most of humane creatures.
The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal
metamorphosis
, or of sending out a
familiar
, real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernormal powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the
magician
, male and female, all the world over; and
witch
superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary character of lycanthropy being almost the sole distinguishing feature. In another direction the phenomenon of repercussion is asserted to manifest itself in connection with the bush-soul of the West African and the
nagual
of
Central America
; but though there is no line of demarcation to be drawn on logical grounds, the assumed power of the magician and the intimate association of the bush-soul or the
nagual
with a human being are not termed lycanthropy.
The curse of lycanthropy was also considered by some scholars as being a
divine punishment
. Werewolf literature shows many examples of
God
or
saints
allegedly cursing those who invoked their wrath with lycanthropy. Such is the case of
Lycaon
, who was turned into a wolf by
Zeus
as punishment for slaughtering one of his own sons and serving his remains to the gods as a dinner. Those who were
excommunicated
by the
Roman Catholic Church
were also said to become werewolves.
[45]
The power of transforming others into wild beasts was attributed not only to malignant sorcerers, but to
Christian saints
as well.
Omnes angeli, boni et Mali, ex virtute naturali habent potestatem transmutandi corpora nostra
("All angels, good and
bad
, have the power of transmutating our bodies") was the dictum of
St. Thomas Aquinas
.
St. Patrick
was said to have transformed the
Welsh
King Vereticus into a wolf;
Natalis
supposedly cursed an illustrious Irish family whose members were each doomed to be a wolf for seven years. In other tales the divine agency is even more direct, while in Russia, again, men supposedly became werewolves when incurring the wrath of the Devil.
A notable exception to the association of Lycanthropy and the Devil, comes from a rare and lesser known account of an 80-year-old man named
Thiess
. In 1692, in
Jurgensburg
,
Livonia
, Thiess testified under oath that he and other werewolves were the Hounds of God.
[64]
He claimed they were warriors who descended into hell to battle witches and
demons
. Their efforts ensured that the Devil and his minions did not carry off the grain from local failed crops down to hell. Thiess was ultimately sentenced to ten lashes for idolatry and
superstitious belief
.
Remedies
Various methods have existed for removing the werewolf form. In antiquity, the Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in the power of exhaustion in curing people of lycanthropy. The victim would be subjected to long periods of physical activity in the hope of being purged of the malady. This practice stemmed from the fact that many alleged werewolves would be left feeling weak and debilitated after committing depredations.
[45]
In medieval Europe, traditionally, there are three methods one can use to cure a victim of lycanthropy; medicinally (usually via the use of
wolfsbane
), surgically, or by
exorcism
. However, many of the cures advocated by medieval medical practitioners proved fatal to the patients. A Sicilian belief of Arabic origin holds that a werewolf can be cured of its ailment by striking it on the forehead or scalp with a knife. Another belief from the same culture involves the piercing of the werewolf's hands with nails. Sometimes, less extreme methods were used. In the German lowland of Schleswig-Holstein, a werewolf could be cured if one were to simply address it three times by its Christian name, while one Danish belief holds that merely scolding a werewolf will cure it.
[45]
Conversion to Christianity is also a common method of removing lycanthropy in the medieval period; a devotion to
St. Hubert
has also been cited as both cure for and protection from lycanthropes.
Connection to revenants
Before the end of the 19th century, the Greeks believed that the corpses of werewolves, if not destroyed, would return to life in the form of wolves or hyenas which prowled battlefields, drinking the blood of dying soldiers. In the same vein, in some rural areas of Germany, Poland and Northern France, it was once believed that people who died in mortal sin came back to life as blood-drinking wolves.
These "undead" werewolves would return to their human corpse form at daylight. They were dealt with by decapitation with a spade and exorcism by the parish priest. The head would then be thrown into a stream, where the weight of its sins was thought to weigh it down. Sometimes, the same methods used to dispose of ordinary vampires would be used. The
vampire
was also linked to the werewolf in East European countries, particularly Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia. In Serbia, the werewolf and vampire are known collectively as
vulkodlak
.
[45]
Hungary and Balkans
In
Hungarian
folklore, werewolves are said to live in the region of
Transdanubia
, and it was thought that the ability to change into a wolf was obtained in infancy, after suffering parental abuse or by a curse. It is told that at the age of seven the boy or the girl leave home at night to go hunting, and can change to a person or wolf whenever they want. The curse can also be obtained in adulthood if a person passes three times through an arch made of
birch
with the help of a wild
rose
's spine.
The werewolves were known to exterminate all kind of farm animals, especially sheep. The transformation usually occurred during the
winter solstice
,
Easter
and a full moon. Later in the 17th and 18th century, the trials in Hungary were not only conducted against witches, but against werewolves too, and many records exist documenting connections between the two. Vampires and werewolves are closely related in Hungarian folklore, both being feared in antiquity.
[65]
Among the
South Slavs
, and also among the ethnic
Kashubian people
in present-day northern Poland, there was the belief that if a child was born with hair, a birthmark or a caul on their head, they were supposed to possess shapeshifting abilities. Though capable of turning into any animal they wished, it was commonly believed that such people preferred to turn into a wolf.
[66]
Serbian
vukodlak
s
traditionally had the habit of congregating annually in the winter months, when they would strip off their wolf skins and hang them from trees. They would then get a hold of another
vulkodlak
'
s skin and burn it, releasing from its curse the
vukodlak
from whom the skin came.
[45]
Caucasus
According to
Armenian
lore, there are women who, in consequence of deadly sins, are condemned to spend seven years in wolf form.
[67]
In a typical account, a condemned woman is visited by a wolfskin-toting spirit, who orders her to wear the skin, which causes her to acquire frightful cravings for human flesh soon after. With her better nature overcome, the she-wolf devours each of her own children, then her relatives' children in order of relationship, and finally the children of strangers. She wanders only at night, with doors and locks springing open at her approach. When morning arrives, she reverts to human form and removes her wolfskin. The transformation is generally said to be involuntary, but there are alternate versions involving voluntary metamorphosis, where the women can transform at will.
Americas and Caribbean
The Naskapis believed that the
caribou
afterlife is guarded by giant wolves which kill careless hunters venturing too near. The
Navajo people
feared witches in wolf's clothing called "Mai-cob".
[68]
Woodward thought that these beliefs were due to the
Norse colonization of the Americas
.
[45]
When the
European colonization of the Americas
occurred, the pioneers brought their own werewolf folklore with them and were later influenced by the lore of their neighbouring colonies and those of the Natives. Belief in the
loup-garou
present in
Canada
(thence
Acadiana
[
citation needed
]
), the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of
Michigan
[69]
and upstate
New York
, originates from French folklore influenced by Native American stories on the
Wendigo
. In
Mexico
, there is a belief in a creature called the
nagual
. In
Haiti
, there is a superstition that werewolf spirits known locally as
Je-rouge
(red eyes) can possess the bodies of unwitting persons and nightly transform them into cannibalistic lupine creatures. The Haitian
je-rouges
typically try to trick mothers into giving away their children voluntarily by waking them at night and asking their permission to take their child, to which the disoriented mother may either reply yes or no. The Haitian
je-rouges
differ from traditional European werewolves by their habit of actively trying to spread their lycanthropic condition to others, much like vampires.
[45]
Modern reception
Werewolf fiction
Most modern fiction describes werewolves as vulnerable to
silver
weapons and highly resistant to other injuries. This feature appears in German folklore of the 19th century.
[70]
The claim that the
Beast of Gevaudan
, an 18th-century wolf or wolflike creature, was shot by a silver bullet appears to have been introduced by novelists retelling the story from 1935 onwards and not in earlier versions.
[71]
[72]
[73]
English folklore, prior to 1865, showed shapeshifters to be vulnerable to silver. "...till the publican shot a silver button over their heads when they were instantly transformed into two ill-favoured old ladies..."
[74]
c. 1640 the city of Greifswald, Germany was infested by werewolves. "A clever lad suggested that they gather all their silver buttons, goblets, belt buckles, and so forth, and melt them down into bullets for their muskets and pistols. ... this time they slaughtered the creatures and rid Greifswald of the lycanthropes."
[75]
The 1897 novel
Dracula
and the short story "
Dracula's Guest
", both written by
Bram Stoker
, drew on earlier mythologies of werewolves and similar legendary demons and "was to voice the anxieties of an age", and the "fears of late
Victorian
patriarchy
".
[76]
In "Dracula's Guest", a band of military horsemen coming to the aid of the protagonist chase off Dracula, depicted as a great wolf stating the only way to kill it is by a "Sacred Bullet".
[77]
This is also mentioned in the main novel Dracula as well.
Count Dracula
stated in the novel that legends of werewolves originated from his
Szekely
racial bloodline,
[78]
who himself is also depicted with the ability to
shapeshift
into a wolf at will during the night but is unable to do so during the day except at noon.
[79]
The 1928 novel
The Wolf's Bride: A Tale from Estonia
, written by the
Finnish
author
Aino Kallas
, tells story of the forester Priidik's wife Aalo living in
Hiiumaa
in the 17th century, who became a werewolf under the influence of a malevolent forest spirit, also known as
Diabolus Sylvarum
.
[80]
The first feature film to use an
anthropomorphic
werewolf was
Werewolf of London
in 1935. The main werewolf of this film is a dapper London scientist who retains some of his style and most of his human features after his transformation,
[81]
as lead actor
Henry Hull
was unwilling to spend long hours being made up by makeup artist
Jack Pierce
.
[82]
Universal Studios
drew on a Balkan tale of a plant associated with lycanthropy as there was no literary work to draw upon, unlike the case with vampires. There is no reference to silver nor other aspects of werewolf lore such as cannibalism.
[83]
A more tragic character is
Lawrence Talbot
, played by
Lon Chaney Jr.
in 1941's
The Wolf Man
. With Pierce's makeup more elaborate this time,
[84]
the movie catapulted the werewolf into public consciousness.
[81]
Sympathetic portrayals are few but notable, such as the comedic but tortured protagonist
David Naughton
in
An American Werewolf in London
,
[85]
and a less anguished and more confident and charismatic
Jack Nicholson
in the 1994 film
Wolf
.
[86]
Over time, the depiction of werewolves has gone from fully malevolent to even heroic creatures, such as in the
Underworld
and
Twilight
series, as well as
Blood Lad
,
Dance in the Vampire Bund
,
Rosario + Vampire
, and various other movies,
anime
,
manga
, and
comic books
.
Other werewolves are decidedly more willful and malevolent, such as those in the novel
The Howling
and its subsequent sequels and
film adaptations
. The form a werewolf assumes was generally anthropomorphic in early films such as
The Wolf Man
and
Werewolf of London
, but a larger and powerful wolf in many later films.
[87]
Werewolves are often depicted as immune to damage caused by ordinary weapons, being vulnerable only to
silver
objects, such as a silver-tipped cane,
bullet
or
blade
; this attribute was first adopted cinematically in
The Wolf Man
.
[84]
This negative reaction to silver is sometimes so strong that the mere touch of the metal on a werewolf's skin will cause burns. Current-day werewolf fiction almost exclusively involves lycanthropy being either a hereditary condition or being transmitted like an
infectious disease
by the bite of another werewolf. In some fiction, the power of the werewolf extends to human form, such as invulnerability to conventional injury due to their healing factor, superhuman speed and strength and falling on their feet from high falls. Also aggressiveness and animalistic urges may be intensified and more difficult to control (hunger, sexual arousal). Usually in these cases the abilities are diminished in human form. In other fiction it can be cured by medicine men or antidotes.
Along with the vulnerability to the silver bullet, the full moon being the cause of the transformation only became part of the depiction of werewolves on a widespread basis in the twentieth century.
[88]
The first movie to feature the transformative effect of the full moon was
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
in 1943.
[89]
Werewolves are typically envisioned as "working-class" monsters, often being low in socio-economic status, although they can represent a variety of social classes and at times were seen as a way of representing "aristocratic decadence" during 19th century horror literature.
[90]
[91]
[92]
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany used
Werwolf
, as the mythical creature's name is spelled in German, in 1942?43 as the codename for
one of Hitler's headquarters
. In the war's final days, the Nazi "Operation
Werwolf
" aimed at creating a commando force that would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany itself.
Two fictional depictions of "Operation Werwolf" – the US television series
True Blood
and the 2012 novel
Wolf Hunter
by J. L. Benet – mix the two meanings of "Werwolf" by depicting the 1945 diehard Nazi commandos as being actual werewolves.
[93]
See also
Notes
- ^
Also spelled
werwolf
. Usually pronounced
WAIR
-wuulf
, but also sometimes
WEER
-wuulf
or
WUR
-wuulf
.
- ^
Pronounced
LY
-k?n-throhp
.
- ^
"... the motif of the full moon is a modern invention, since historical sources do not mention it as an instigator of metamorphosis." (
de Blecourt 2015
, pp. 3?4).
- ^
Pronounced
ly-
KAN
-thr?-pee
.
- ^
Lorey (2000) records 280 known cases; this contrasts with a total number of 12,000 recorded cases of executions for witchcraft, or an estimated grand total of about 60,000, corresponding to 2% or 0.5% respectively. The recorded cases span the period of 1407 to 1725, peaking during the period of 1575?1657.
- ^
Lorey (2000) records six trials in the period 1701 and 1725, all in either Styria or Carinthia; 1701 Paul Perwolf of Wolfsburg, Obdach, Styria (executed); 1705 "Vlastl" of Murau, Styria (verdict unknown); 1705/6 six beggars in Wolfsberg, Carinthia (executed); 1707/8 three shepherds in Leoben and Freyenstein, Styria (one lynching, two probable executions); 1718 Jakob Kranawitter, a mentally disabled beggar, in Rotenfel, Oberwolz, Styria (corporeal punishment); 1725: Paul Schaffer, beggar of St. Leonhard im Lavanttal, Carinthia (executed).
Citations
- ^
Lemma: Weerwolf
,
Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal
(in Dutch)
- ^
a
b
Oxford English Dictionary 2021
, s.v.
werewolf, n.
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a
b
c
DEAF
G:334?338.
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FEW
17:569.
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and
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'We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, aye, and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the werewolves themselves had come.
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. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink. p. 12.
ISBN
1-57859-078-7
.
OCLC
41565057
.
- ^
Steiger, Brad (1999).
The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shapeshifting Beings
. Visible Ink. p. 330.
ISBN
1-57859-078-7
.
OCLC
41565057
.
- ^
Steiger, Brad (1999).
The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shapeshifting Beings
. Visible Ink. p. 17.
ISBN
1-57859-078-7
.
OCLC
41565057
.
- ^
Andrzej Wicher; Piotr Spyra; Joanna Matyjaszczyk (2014).
Basic Categories of Fantastic Literature Revisited
. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 95?96.
ISBN
978-1-4438-7143-3
.
- ^
Glut, Donald F. (2002).
The Frankenstein Archive
. McFarland. p. 19.
ISBN
0786413530
.
- ^
Crossen, Carys Elizabeth.
The Nature of the Beast: Transformations of the Werewolf from the 1970s to the Twenty-first Century
. University of Wales Press, 2019, p. 206
- ^
Senn, Bryan.
The Werewolf Filmography: 300+ Movies
. McFarland, 2017, p. 8
- ^
Wilson, Natalie.
Seduced by Twilight: The allure and contradictory messages of the popular saga
. McFarland, 2014, p. 39
- ^
Boissoneault, Lorraine.
"The Nazi Werewolves Who Terrorized Allied Soldiers at the End of WWII"
.
Smithsonian Magazine
. The Smithsonian
. Retrieved
27 May
2020
.
References
Secondary sources
- Butler, Francis (2005). "Russian "vurdalak" 'vampire' and Related Forms in Slavic".
Journal of Slavic Linguistics
.
13
(2): 237?250.
JSTOR
24599657
.
- de Blecourt, Willem
(2015).
Werewolf Histories
. Springer.
ISBN
978-1-137-52634-2
.
- Delamarre, Xavier
(2007). "Gallo-Brittonica (suite: 11?21)".
Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie
.
55
(1).
doi
:
10.1515/ZCPH.2007.29
.
ISSN
0084-5302
.
S2CID
163928150
.
- de Vries, Jan
(1962).
Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch
(1977 ed.). Brill.
ISBN
978-90-04-05436-3
.
- Douglas, Adam (1992).
The Beast Within: A History of the Werewolf
. London: Chapmans.
ISBN
0-380-72264-X
.
- Frost, Brian J. (2003).
The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature
. Popular Press.
ISBN
978-0-87972-860-1
.
- Goens, Jean (1993).
Loups-garous, vampires et autres monstres : enquetes medicales et litteraires
. Paris: CNRS Editions.
- Koch, John T.
(2020).
Celto-Germanic, Later Prehistory and Post-Proto-Indo-European vocabulary in the North and West
. University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies.
ISBN
978-1907029325
.
- Lecouteux, Claude
(2003).
Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages
. Inner Traditions/Bear.
ISBN
978-0-89281-096-3
.
- Nichols, Johanna
(1987). "Russian vurdalak 'werewolf' and its cognates". In Flier, Michael S.; Karlinsky, Simon (eds.).
Language literature linguistics: In honor of Francis Whitfield on his seventieth birthday March 25, 1986
. Berkeley Slavic Specialties.
ISBN
978-0933884588
.
- Orel, Vladimir
(2003).
A Handbook of Germanic Etymology
. Brill.
ISBN
978-90-04-12875-0
.
- Otten, Charlotte F. (1986).
The Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture
. Syracuse University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8156-2384-7
.
- Oxford English Dictionary Online
. Oxford University Press. 2021.
- West, Martin L.
(2007).
Indo-European Poetry and Myth
.
Oxford University Press
.
ISBN
978-0-19-928075-9
.
Primary sources
- Wolfeshusius, Johannes Fridericus.
De Lycanthropia: An vere illi, ut fama est, luporum & aliarum bestiarum formis induantur. Problema philosophicum pro sententia Joan. Bodini ... adversus dissentaneas aliquorum opiniones noviter assertum...
Leipzig: Typis Abrahami Lambergi, 1591. (In Latin; microfilm held by the
United States National Library of Medicine
)
- Prieur, Claude.
Dialogue de la Lycanthropie: Ou transformation d'hommes en loups, vulgairement dits loups-garous, et si telle se peut faire
. Louvain: J. Maes & P. Zangre, 1596.
- Bourquelot and
Jean de Nynauld
,
De la Lycanthropie, Transformation et Extase des Sorciers
(Paris, 1615).
- Summers, Montague
,
The Werewolf
London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1933. (1st edition, reissued 1934 New York: E. P. Dutton; 1966 New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books; 1973 Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press; 2003 Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, with new title
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend
).
ISBN
0-7661-3210-2
Further reading
- Baring-Gould, Sabine (1865).
The Book of Werewolves: Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition
. London:
Smith, Elder & Co.
Google Books
- Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Werwolf"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Grimm,
Deutsche Mythologie
, 4, ii. and iii.
- Hertz,
Der Werwolf
(Stuttgart, 1862)
- Leubuscher,
Uber die Wehrwolfe
(1850)
- O'Donnell, Elliot (1912).
Werewolves
.
- Sconduto, Leslie A.
Metamorphoses of the
werewolf
: a literary study from antiquity through the Renaissance
.
- Stewart, Caroline Taylor (1909).
The origin of the werewolf superstition
. University of Missouri Studies.
ISBN
978-0524023778
.
External links
Look up
werewolf
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related to
Werewolf
.
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Werewolves
.
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