# Werwolf/werewolf



## kusurija

A mythic creature (a man, who can shapeshift to a wolf).

In English: Werewolf

In German: Werwolf

In Latin: lycanthrop

In French: loup-garou

In Spain: hombre lobo

In Czech: vlkodlak (vlk - wolf; dlak - skin)

In Lithuanian: vilkolakis (vilkas - wolf; lakti - to drink[about animals])

In Polish: wilkołak

How do You name it in Your respective language?


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog:

Taong-Lobo.


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## Outsider

Portuguese: lobisomem = _lobis_ (wolf) + _homem_ (man)

_Lobis_ is ultimately from Latin _lupus_.

In this thread we discussed a traditional song from the region of Portugal and Galicia which mentions a werewolf. 



kusurija said:


> In Latin: lycanthrop


_Lycanthrope_ (English) and _lycanthropus_ (Latin) are hellenisms (λύκος + άνθρωπος)... I don't know if Latin proper had a word for werewolf.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*: weerwolf

Groetjes,

Frank


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## valo__fan

In Turkish: kurt adam(wolf man)

hope helps


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## Setwale_Charm

In Russian: оборотень (nothing to do with a wolf)
In Estonian: libahunt (much closer to the general idea).


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## Trisia

*Romanian:  *vârcolac (but it doesn't always mean werewolf)


Come to think of it, we might also use "om-lup" ("man-wolf"), at least I've heard it used. There's also "pricolici" (human being that turns into a dog or a wolf at night), but I don't remember ever having seen it outside the dictionary/Wikipedia, really. -- EDIT: except once, in the Romanian translation of Satyricon.


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## bibliolept

You might want to look at this Google Books link to _Werewolf_ by Montague Summers.
http://books.google.com/books?id=JH...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result


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## alexacohen

In Gallego : lobisome. 

Very similar to the portuguese word.


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## Halibut

Swedish: varulv


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*:  _lupfantomo_.


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*

farkasember (farkas = wolf + ember = man)

_(very interesting more languages use the wolf+man synthesis)_


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## Juri

In Italian: lupo mannaro, uomo lupo
Slovenian: volkodlak


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## OneStroke

Chinese: 人狼 - renlang (human wolf)


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## Tamar

In Hebrew:

אדם זאב [adam ze'ev]

or איש זאב [ish ze'ev]

Man wolf


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## Perseas

kusurija said:


> A mythic creature (a man, who can shapeshift to a wolf).
> 
> In Latin: lycanthrop





Outsider said:


> _Lycanthrope_ (English) and _lycanthropus_ (Latin) are hellenisms (λύκος + άνθρωπος)... I don't know if Latin proper had a word for werewolf.



So, it's *λυκάνθρωπος* /li'kanθropos/, in *Greek*. (λύκος=wolf, άνθρωπος=man)


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## rusita preciosa

Setwale_Charm said:


> In Russian: оборотень (nothing to do with a wolf)


This means "shape-shifter" - a human that has the ability to turn into another being, not necessarily a wolf.

Werewolf in Russian is *ликантроп* [likantrop] (I guess from Greek) and *вервольф* [vervol'f] from German.


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## kirahvi

In Finnish:

ihmissusi - human wolf


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## SuperXW

OneStroke said:


> Chinese: 人狼 - renlang (human wolf)


To my knowledge, it should be 狼人 (wolf human). Could be a Mainland/Hong Kong difference?


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## ahmedcowon

In Arabic:

مستذئب /mostaðʔeb/ - (the person who acts like a wolf), from the word ذئب /ðeʔb/ which means "wolf"


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## swintok

In Ukrainian:

вовкулака (vovkul*a*ka) - The dictionary lists the etymology as "unclear," though the first part of the word obviously comes from the word for wolf (вовк).  It's an interesting word, since it is a masculine word that declines like a feminine.  There is a masculine variant (вовкул*а*к) that is not as common.  Also, dialectically, вовкун (vovk*u*n)


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## Grefsen

Halibut said:


> Swedish: varulv


In Danish and Norwegian, "werewolf" is also *varulv.*


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## ancalimon

In Old Turkic  erbörüg  (man warg). But since the name börüg is a taboo (the name börüg somehow got a negative meaning and wolves should be good), we started to use the word kurt for wolf and wolves are still loved in our culture.


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## Outsider

I had to look up the word "warg", so here's an explanation for anyone else who's interested.


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## 810senior

In Japanese:

ウェアウルフ wea urufu
狼男 ookami otoko : ookami = wolf, otoko=man, lit. wolf man


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## mundiya

Hindi: भेड़ियामानव (bheRiyaa-maanav) "wolf man"


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## AutumnOwl

Halibut said:


> Swedish: varulv


_Ulv_ was an old noa name for wolf in Swedish, today we use _varg_. _Var-_ is probably from an old word for man.


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## 810senior

OneStroke said:


> Chinese: 人狼 - renlang (human wolf)


Japanese has the same word, differently pronounced as jinrou(人狼).


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## Dymn

*Catalan*:
_home llop_ (man wolf)


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## marco_2

swintok said:


> In Ukrainian:
> 
> вовкулака (vovkul*a*ka) - The dictionary lists the etymology as "unclear," though the first part of the word obviously comes from the word for wolf (вовк)



In Polish the word is similar: *wilkołak *and our etymological dictionaries say it comes from _v_ьlko-dlakъ, and the word _dlaka _once meant "animal fur", so _wilkołak _was "a man with animal (wolf's) fur".


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## apmoy70

swintok said:


> In Ukrainian:
> 
> вовкулака (vovkul*a*ka) - The dictionary lists the etymology as "unclear," though the first part of the word obviously comes from the word for wolf (вовк).  It's an interesting word, since it is a masculine word that declines like a feminine.  There is a masculine variant (вовкул*а*к) that is not as common.  Also, dialectically, вовкун (vovk*u*n)


Ironically, its South-Slavic cognate върколак/вукoдлак gave the Byzantine Greek *«βουρκόλακας» vourkόlakas* --> _harmful undead creature in Byzantine folklore _> MoGr *«βρικόλακας»* [vriˈkolakas] --> _vampire_


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