Hero as Werwolf

James Wynn · 25 Sep 2009, 18:39 · from 2009-September.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:39:51 -0500
Subject: (urth) Hero as Werwolf
In-Reply-To: <37bfbeb60909251047i3f2a4ef4k64bc9df82641ce7 at mail.gmail.com>
References: <37bfbeb60909250844pcb52bf7k584c505e926aed8c at mail.gmail.com><20090925160441.F2D644800E at diego.dreamhost.com>
	<37bfbeb60909251047i3f2a4ef4k64bc9df82641ce7 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <0CB78811FFBC49B482943E7C20CA54A7@eMachinePC>

> Also, the OED entry on "werewolf" notes: "The first element has
> usually been identified with OE. wer man WERE n.1, but the form were-
> in place of wer- (cf. however were- and wer{asg}ild WERGELD), and the
> variants in war-, var-, makes this somewhat doubtful.
>  Evidence for the real currency of the word (chiefly in the {beta}
> and {gamma} forms) is rare, and confined to Sc., after the 17th cent.
> In modern use it has been revived through folk-lore studies, and until
> recently the most usual form has been werewolf, and occas. wehrwolf
> from German.] "
> The first entry from 1000 has "werewolf" as the spelling.

I'm going to hypothesize that the reason "werewolf" has the extra "e" is 
because the pronunciation requirements for an Old English speaker to say the 
"ehr"  sound in front of a "w". I'm not offering any proof of this. It is 
just that the translation "man-wolf" is just too compelling in absence of an 
alternative.

J.

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