also wer·wolf (wârˈwo͝olfˌ, wîrˈ-, wûrˈ-)
noun A person believed to have been transformed into a wolf or to be capable of assuming the form of a wolf.
Word History: The
wolf in
werewolf is current English; the
were is not.
Werewulf, “werewolf,” occurs only once in Old English, about the year 1000, in the laws of King Canute: “
lest the madly ravenous werewolf too savagely tear or devour too much from a godly flock.” The
wer- or
were- in
wer(e)wulf means “man”; it is related to Latin
vir with the same meaning, the source of
virile and
virility. Both the Germanic and the Latin words derive from Indo-European
*wīro-, “man.”
Wer- also appears, though much disguised, in the word
world. World is first recorded (written
wiaralde) in Old English in a charter dated 832; the form
worold occurs in
Beowulf. The Old English forms come from Germanic
*wer-ald-, “were-eld” or “man-age.” The transfer of meaning from the age of humans to the place where they live has a parallel in the Latin word
saeculum, “age, generation, lifetime,” later “world.”
