Note 9 — Front matter
Reading edition
See also Mogk in Paul’s Grundriss, III. 272. Dr. Rud. Leubuscher: Über die Wehrwölfe und Thierverwandlungen im Mittelalter, Berlin, 1850, mentions cases in ancient Arcadia, in Arabia, Abyssinia (hyenas), and the almost epidemic disease in the Middle Ages. Dr. W. Hertz, Der Werwolf, Stuttgart, 1862, ascribes the superstition to Armenia, Egypt, Abyssinia (hyenas), Greece (pages 20-28), but not to India, contrary to Encyc. Brit. below; on p. 133 he says: “Tierverwandlungen sind allgemein menschlich, finden wir überall. Die eigentümliche Entwicklung der Werwolfsagen aber finden wir vorzugsweise bei einer bestimmten Völkergruppe, den arischen Stämmen der Griechen, Römer, Kelten, Germanen und Slaven; bei den südwärts gezogenen Stämmen der Inder und Iranier sind uns gleiche Sagen nicht begegnet [but see below]. Am massenhaftesten treten die Werwölfe bei den Slaven auf, und ihnen gehört die älteste historische Erwähnung der Sage; viel älter aber ist der Lykaon Mythus und arkadische Werwölfe”. According to Andree, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche, Stuttgart, 1878, ss. 62-80, the superstition is found in every European country (amongst Anglo-Saxons, English, French, Bretons, Poles, Tschechs, Lithuanians, White Russians of Poland, inhabitants of island Oesel, Russians, Italians, Portuguese, Provencal peoples, Greeks, Kelts, in Asia, Africa, America; but not in India nor Persia, contrary to Encyc. Brit. below), especially though in northwestern Germany and in Slavic lands.
As to the American Indians, see Ethnological Report for 1880-81, p. 83, “From their close relations with wild animals Indians’ stories of transformations into beasts and beasts into men are numerous and interesting.... In times of peace, during the long winter evenings, some famous storyteller told of those days in the past when men and animals could transform themselves at will and hold converse with one another.”
Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, Bell & Sons, 1883, II. 668 says no metamorphosis occurs more frequently in Germanic antiquities than that of men into werewolves. Thus Fenrisûlfr, a son of Loki, makes his appearance in wolf’s shape among the gods.
Encyc. Brit. XV. 89 fol., under the heading Lycanthropy, states:—A belief firmly rooted among all savages is that men are in certain circumstances transformed temporarily or permanently into wolves and other inferior animals. In Europe the transformation into a wolf is by far more prominent and frequent (amongst Greeks, Russians, English, Germans, French, Scandinavians). Belief in metamorphosis into the animal most prominent in any locality itself acquires a special prominence. Thus the were-wolf prevails in Europe, also in England, Wales, Ireland; and in S. France, the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Servia, Bohemia, Poland, Russia, he can hardly be pronounced extinct now (see note 12). In Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland the bear competes with the wolf for pre-eminence. In Persia the bear is supreme; in Japan the fox; in India the serpent vies with the tiger (contrary to Mogk in Paul’s Grd., III. 272, who says:—“Nur Griechen, Römer, Kelten, Germanen, Slaven unter den indogermanischen Völkern kennen den Werwolf, den Indern und Iraniern ist er unbekannt.” Compare notes 6 and 9, Hertz, p. 133); in Abyssinia and Borneo the hyena with the lion; in E. Africa the lion with the alligator; in W. Africa the leopard is perhaps most frequently the form assumed by man; among the Abipones the tiger, among the Arawaks the jaguar, etc.
In Brockhaus’ Konversations-Lexikon, for the Middle Ages the werewolf belief is ascribed to all Slavic, Keltic, Germanic and Romanic peoples; found to-day especially in Volhynia and White Russia.
Paul, Grundriss, III. 272:—Bei den Angelsachsen lässt sich der Werwolf im 11. Jahrh. nachweisen: Knut befahl den Priestern, ihre Herden vor dem werewulf zu schirmen.... Das älteste Zeugnis auf deutschem Gebiete vom Werwolf ist vom Burchard v. Worms (11 century).