User:Alcaios/Franks

Werewolf
The word werewolf comes from the Old English werewulf, which is cognate with other Germanic words like weerwolf (Middle Dutch), werwulf (Middle Low German), waerûl (West Frisian), or werwolf (Middle High German). They are generally thought to stem from the Proto-Germanic compound *wira-wulfaz, meaning 'man-wolf'. An alternative reconstruction, *wazi-wulfaz ('wolf-clothed'), would make the Germanic word semantically identical with the Slavic name for 'werewolf', *vьlko-dlakь ('wolf-haired one'; from *vьlkь 'wolf' and *dlaka 'animal hair, fur'). (cf. ON úlfheðnar 'wolf-skinned', úlfheðinn 'wolf-coat')

The Old Norse vargúlfr, which occurs only in a 13th-century translation of Marie de France's lay of Bisclavret, underwent taboo modification, the first element having been replaced with the term vargr ('outlaw; wolf'), probably under the influence of French loup-garou, which literally means 'wolf-werewolf'. The latter, attested in Old French as leu waroul ~ leu garoul since the 12th century (Old Norman garuf), is indeed thought to have been borrowed from the Old Frankish *werwolf. varulv (Danish, Norwegian) and varulf (Swedish) borrowed from MLG.