origin of were wolf

30 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES [282
werewolf is the survival of the robe or mantle originally disguising
the entire body. It would be but a step further to represent
a person as rendering himself invisible by putting on any other
article of apparel, such as the Tarnkappe. 108 The stories especially
in Europe were of the were-wolf rather than were-bear or other
animal, because the wolf was the commonest of the larger wild
animals. 109
It was the stories of the commonest animal, the wolf,
which crystallized into the household werewolf or transformation
tales. 110
108 Thus some American Indian stories represent men transformed into
wolf, turkey or owl turning into stone or piece of decayed wood when pursued.
And mantles of invisibility are mentioned in note 60.
109
See Hirt, Die Indogermanen, I. 187: "Unter den grossen Raubtieren
treten uns Bar und Wolf mit alten Namen entgegen. Der Wolf ist
freilich iiberall in Eiiropa verbreitet gewesen, der Bar ist aber ganz sicher
ein Waldtier," etc.^Encyc. Brit, under Lycanthropy: "In England by
the lyth century the werewolf had long been extinct. Only small creatures,
the cat, hare, weasel,~etc., remained for the malignant sorcerer to
transform himself into.'^ See note n.
110
Amongst the American Indians, where various larger animals were
common, the designation "wolf-people" (see the sign-language
of the
plains) was bestowed especially on the Pawnees, because, as we have seen,
they best imitated wolves. In Europe, where, of the larger animals, the
wolf alone was universally common, the designation "wolf-people" (or if we
choose, later, werewolves) was not restricted to any one locality or people,
but was bestowed in general on those who assumed the manner of wolves,
and because of their crimes became outcasts like the wolves. They best
imitate wolves, and no doubt, to escape detection, disguised themselves as
wolves (see note 102), and for this reason the -warg or outlaw came to be
called a.tvolf (see close of note 112). Thus Golther, Mythologie, p. 102,
says: "Wird ein Werwolf verwundet oder getotet, so findet man einen
wunden oder toten Menschen." The werewolves, as we have seen (ante
p. 25), keep to the woods and the dark, of course in many cases to avoid
detection. Similarly witches, Ethn. Rep. 1901-02, p. 393: "They say that
witches love the night and lurk in shadows and darkness. Witches are
believed to be able to assume the shape of beasts." Sigmundand Sinfjotli
dwelt as wolves in the woods. Also the progenitor of the Myramenn in
Iceland at night could leave his house in wolf's form. Another Norwegian
account reports how earlier many people were able to take on wolf's