Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
werewolf's - 1 dictionary results
were·wolf also wer·wolf     (wâr'wŏŏlf', wîr'-, wûr'-)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   A person believed to have been transformed into a wolf or to be capable of assuming the form of a wolf.

[Middle English, from Old English werewulf : wer, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots + wulf, wolf; see wolf.]
Word History: The wolf in werewolf is current English; the were is not. Werewulf, "werewolf," occurs only once in Old English, about the year 1000, in the laws of King Canute: "lest the madly ravenous werewolf too savagely tear or devour too much from a godly flock." The wer- or were- in wer(e)wulf means "man"; it is related to Latin vir with the same meaning, the source of virile and virility. Both the Germanic and the Latin words derive from Indo-European *wīro-, "man." Wer- also appears, though much disguised, in the word world. World is first recorded (written wiaralde) in Old English in a charter dated 832; the form worold occurs in Beowulf. The Old English forms come from Germanic *wer-ald-, "were-eld" or "man-age." The transfer of meaning from the age of humans to the place where they live has a parallel in the Latin word saeculum, "age, generation, lifetime," later "world."

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Share :Share This: digg.comShare This: www.stumbleupon.comShare This: del.icio.usShare This: FacebookShare This: favorites.live.comShare This: www.technorati.comShare This: furl.netShare This: www.myspace.comShare This: www.google.comShare This: myweb2.search.yahoo.comShare This: myjeeves.ask.com
Search another word or see werewolf's on Thesaurus | Reference | Translate
Get your FREE Subscription to Dictionary.com Word of the Day
The FREE Dictionary.com Toolbar
Dictionary Thesaurus Reference
The answers are right on your browser and just a click away with Dictionary.com Toolbar.