This was not the only word connected with were-wolves which helped on the superstition
- Date of account
- Published 1865
- Source
- The Book of Were-Wolves
- Reference
- The Book of Were-Wolves · selected passage 23
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
This was not the only word connected with were-wolves which helped on the superstition
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyThis was not the only word connected with were-wolves which helped on the superstition. The word _vargr_, a wolf, had a double significance, which would be the means of originating many a were-wolf story. _Vargr_ is the same as _u-argr_, restless; _argr_ being the same as the Anglo-Saxon _earg_. _Vargr_ had its double signification in Norse. It signified a wolf, and also a godless man. This _vargr_ is the English _were_, in the word were-wolf, and the _garou_ or _varou_ in French. The Danish word for were-wolf is _var-ulf_, the Gothic _vaira-ulf_. In the _Romans de Garin_, it is “Leu warou, sanglante beste.” In the _Vie de S. Hildefons_ by Gauthier de Coinsi,—
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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