Werewolves

By Laura Collins
October 18, 2020
greek, loki, mythology, norse, shapeshifter, werewolf, wolf, zeus

Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? Not us.

Werewolves are one of the world’s most famous shape-shifters, and have enthralled us in stories — both in print and on screens. Below the glow of a full moon, werewolves frolic and stalk the night. But what else do you know about werewolves? Read these hair-raising facts, and become a shape-shifting scholar.

The term “werewolf” comes from two Old English words: “were” meaning “man,” and “wulf” meaning “wolf.”
‎Another term for werewolf is “lycanthrope.” This term comes from the Ancient Greek “lukos” for wolf and “anthropes” for “human.”
One of the first werewolf stories is Greek in origin — Lycaon, king of Arcadia, was turned into a werewolf as punishment for attempting to trick the god Zeus.
Nordic mythology also has a werewolf story. In this myth, a father and son come across a pair of wolf pelts and put them on. The pelts had the power to turn the father and son into wolves for ten days.
‎Fenrir — a child of the trickster god Loki in Norse mythology — is a great wolf that has lent his name to many wolves in literature. In particular, the werewolf Fenrir Greyback from the Harry Potter series.
There’s a version of the werewolf on Scotland’s Shetland Islands called the Wulver. Unlike a traditional werewolf, the Wulver doesn’t transform between man and wolf. Instead, the Wulver is depicted as a man with the head of a wolf. Wulvers are also known for being kind and generous — legend says that Wulvers will leave fish for families facing hardships so that they may have food.
Werewolf legends are prominent in areas that are heavily forested, where there is plenty of wildlife.
‎In other parts of the world where there aren’t wolves, there are still shapeshifting legends. For example, fox shapeshifters are common in the folklore of Korea (kumiho), Japan (kitsune) and China (huli jing).
While they weren’t as common as witch trials, werewolf trials did exist. The last recorded werewolf trials were in the 18th century.
The first werewolf movie debuted in 1935, titled Werewolf of London.
‎The medical condition hypertrichosis is also called “Werewolf Syndrome.” This is a condition that causes an excess of hair to grow on the body.
Remus Lupin, the werewolf Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher of Hogwarts, should not have been too surprised with his fate. The name “Remus” comes from the Roman myth of “Romulus and Remus,” twin brothers who were abandoned at birth and raised by a wolf. “Lupin” comes from the Latin word “lupus,” meaning wolf.