origin of were wolf

33 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES
[ 2^4
wiitendes Wesen, Mensch von roher verbrecherischer Denlc-und Handlungsweise,
geachteter Verbrecher, ausgestossener Missetater; tvarg ist Benennung
des Wolfes, in der Rechtssprache ein treu-und vertragbriichiger
Mensch, vogelfreier Mann, der den Frieden durch Mord gebrochen und
landfliichtig geworden, oder nun im wilden Walde gleich dem Raubtiere
haust und wie der Wolf ungestraf t erlegt werden darf ;
im jetzigen Gebrauche
auf Island Bezeichnung einer gewalttatigen Person. Similarly, J. Grimm,
Gesch. d. d. Spr. p. 233. For customs amongst the American Indians
relating to the outlaw see Ethn. Rep. 1879-80, p. 67 fol. An outlaw :
is one
who by his crimes has placed himself without the protection of his clan,
another. When the sentence of
is not defended in case he is injured by
outlawry has been declared, for example among the Wyandots,
it is the
duty of the chief of the Wolf clan to make known the decision of the
council ... In outlawry of the highest degree it is the duty of any member
of the tribe who may meet the offender to kill him like an animal. Page 60
fol.:
''The chief of the Wolf gens is the herald and the sheriff of the tribe"
(see also Ethn. Rep. 1893-94, p. cxiv). Criminals kept to the woods and the
dark. Many of them lived like animals, dressed in animal skins, and to
terrorize others assumed the role of werewolves. Since therefore so many
outlaws lived, dressed (note 22 close) and acted like wolves, to all intents
and purposes became wolves, ivolf and outlaw became synonymous terms.
118 The widespread custom of keeping windows closed at night in Germany
is perhaps a relic of heathen days, when people believed that werewolves,
etc., entered houses at night. In place of the earlier harmful
werewolf is now the "harmful" night air.