Note 53 — Front matter

No doubt some of these men disguised as wolves won considerable fame through their skill and bravery, as we should judge from such proper names as Rudolf, which means really Ruhmwolf, Ruhm related to Gothic hropeigs “victorious,” Sanskrit kir “to praise”; or Adolf from Adalolf, which means Edelwolf, originally, therefore, Edelräuber, for wolf meant originally about the same as robber (Kluge). So robber or wolf was originally a highly respectable appellation, at a time when men lived from robbery and the chase, either as searobbers, or mountain robbers, etc. (about this early profession see Hirt, Die Indogermanen, 1905, p. 268 fol.), and the profession was not looked on as a disgrace (see appellation “wolves” applied to Pawnees, p. 12.). Later we find such names as Wulfila “little wolf.” Many Indian names are those of animals, such as Good Fox, Good Bear, Walking Bear, Conquering Bear, Rushing Bear, Stumbling Bear, Brave Bear, Bear Rib, Smoking Bear, Biting Bear, Bear-Looks-Back, Cloud Bear, Mad Bear, Mad Wolf, Lone Wolf, Lean Wolf, Wolf-Ear, Wolf-Robe, etc. See Ethn. Rep. 1882-83, p. 169: The names of Indians very often refer to some animal, predicating some attribute or position of that animal. For discussion of names, see note 111.