Lupus

The word wolf, is cognate with Latin lupus, Greek lukos, and comes from the Indo-European root *wlkwo 'Wolf'. Derivatives: wolf (from Germanic wulf), lobo, lupine, lupus, robalo, loup-garou, (these words from Latin lupus, wolf), lycanthrope, lycopodium, lyceum, (these words from Greek lukos, wolf), lytta, alyssum (from Greek lussa). [Pokorny wlkwos 1178. Watkins].

The words hearse, rehearse, are rooted in the Oscan word for wolf; hirpus, harrow, and the meaning alluded to the sharp, pointed, jagged teeth of wolves. Hearse derives from the Old French herce, from Latin hirpex, 'rake, harrow', describing the framework for candles hung over a coffin, and later came to refer to a vehicle for conveying a coffin in a funeral. The Roman 'hirpex' was actually what we would today call a 'harrow' a heavy frame with sharp iron teeth used to break up and even off plowed ground, and was called irpices, from Oscan hirpus, wolf. Rehearse meant to 'reharrow, go over again, repeat'. Latin lupata, and lupatus also referred to the sharp pointed wolf's teeth.

The Swedish and Norwegian term for wolf is varg, Gothic vargs (warg in Old High German, verag in Anglo-Saxon) and stands for an outlaw. The verdict "thou art a warg" declared the culprit an outlaw. Those people were banished forever from human society and were forced to live in the wild [1].

"Ululate means to howl like a wolf. [After his transformation into a wolf by Zeus] "Lycaon flees into the silent countryside—silentia ruris (1.232); when he tries to speak, he howls, EXULulat (1.233). The verb is well chosen, since it carries within it EXUL, 'exile'; he runs howling into exile, where his transformation into a wolf is completed (Metamorphoses 1.236—39)". [Metaformations, Frederick Ahl, p.72.] 

The constellation Lupus was not recognized as a wolf until about the 16th century, and from then the animal was considered a wolf, Fera Lupus, 'wild wolf'. The Greeks and Ptolomy thought of these stars merely as a generic wild animal, the Therion that the Centaur (Centaurus) was taking to Ara, the Altar, skewered on a pike as a sacrificial offering. Greek ther, means wild beast. Therion comes from the Indo-European root *ghwer- 'Wild beast'. Derivatives: feral, fierce, ferocious, (these words from Latin ferus), treacle, theropod (these words from Greek ther, wild beast). [Pokorny ghwer- 493. Watkins]

Some see a possible association of Latin ferrum, iron, with Latin ferus/fera, wild. Michalopoulos (Ancient Etymologies in Ovid's Metamorphoses) says "Ovid vertically aligns ferrum and ferarum". The Roman mythological poet Ovid described four ages of man: Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron (the present age). In the Iron Age men become evil, greedy and dishonest. Zeus/Jupiter tells the assembled gods that he must punish these men and proceeds to tell them how he dealt with an especially corrupt man, Lycaon, king of Arcadia, whom he turned into a wolf for the crime of offering Zeus a dish of human flesh in order to test his divinity. This gave rise to the story that a man was turned into a wolf at each annual sacrifice to Zeus Lycaeus, the Lupercal, but recovered his human form if he abstained from human flesh for nine years. The wolves seem to be holding to their side of the bargain; there has been no documented proof in the past 150 years that any wild, healthy wolf has killed a human [2]. Lycanthropes are people that could assume the shape of wolves. They are regarded as 'werewolves' of folklore.

“The 'wolf (lupus) or 'little dog' (canicula) is an iron grapple that takes such names because if anything falls in a well it snatches them and draws them out.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.405.]

The legendary lawgiver of Sparta, Lycurgus, had a wolf name meaning 'He who brings into being the works of a wolf'; Among the reforms attributed to Lycurgus are the substitution of iron money for gold and silver coinage. Isegrim, the Wolf’s name in Renard the Fox, is Flemish—Isengrin meaning the iron helm [3].

The Greeks thought of these stars, Lupus, as the Therion, the animal that the Centaur (Centaurus) was taking to Ara, the Altar, as a sacrificial offering. In Mediaeval Christian astronomy the figure Centaurus, Centaur, became 'Abraham with Isaac'. Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar as the then current religious law demanded that the first-born son be sacrificed to God. "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram (Aries) caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son" [Gen. 22:10-13] [This might make the wolf Isaac, representing the Centaur's sacrifice and Abraham's sacrifice. The Biblical school said that Aries represented Abraham’s Ram caught in the thicket].

Centaurus is traditionally depicted as carrying Lupus, the Wolf, to sacrifice on Ara. The Lupercalia was a sacrificial celebration.

Despite their often negative image, wolves have variously been credited, in mythology, fiction and reality, with adopting, nursing, and raising human feral children, the most famous examples being Romulus and Remus and Mowgli of The Jungle Book [4]. The Lupercal was a cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome. In the legend of Rome's foundation, Romulus and Remus were found there by the lactating female wolf, lupa, who suckled them until they were found by Faustulus.

Fenrisulfr (Fenris or Fenrir) was an Old Norse wolf-god. According to the Edda, at one stage the gods decided to shackle Fenrisulfr, but the beast broke every chain they put upon him and broke loose. Eventually they had the dwarfs make them a magical ribbon called Gleipnir from such items as a woman's beard and a mountain's roots. Even though it was as thin as a silken ribbon, it is stronger than any iron chain. [This magical ribbon, Gleipnir, might be a loop, and I suggest related to lup- of lupus, French loup, wolf; a loop is described as "a length of line, thread, ribbon, or other thin material that is curved or doubled over making an opening".] "The Fenris-wolf advances with wide-open mouth; the upper jaw reaches to heaven and the lower jaw is on the earth." It is prophesied that at Ragnarok, the battle of the gods at the end of the world, the wolf will at last break free and join forces with the enemies of the gods and will then devour Odin himself.

"The Wolf Credo: Respect the elders. Teach the young. Cooperate with the pack. Play when you can. Hunt when you must..." [Del Goetz]

Wolf words have associations with higher education. The Lyceum (from Greek lycos, wolf), named for its sanctuary to Lycian Apollo, was a gymnasium in ancient Athens, most famous for its association with Aristotle. The Lyceum was an important early milestone in the development of Western science and philosophy. The debate concerning the existence of God is an issue in philosophy. It seems to be our wolf nature that investigates the existence or nature of God. A story is told by Ovid (Bk I:199-243) about Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who was turned into a wolf for the crime of offering Zeus a dish of human flesh in order to test his divinity. Zeus tells the story to the assembled gods "I gave them signs that a god had come, and the people began to worship me. At first Lycaon ridiculed their piety, then exclaimed ‘I will prove by a straightforward test whether he is a god or a mortal. The truth will not be in doubt’" [5]. He boiled some parts of a human victim while roasting others, and placed them on the table as a meal before Zeus [6]. Lycaon was essentially performing a scientific experiment in order to establish whether the god Zeus was really god. The story implies that he was making an analysis; "the method of proof in which a known truth is sought as a consequence of a series of deductions from that which is the thing to be proved" (AHD). Aristotle, who taught in the Lyceum, described his style of logic as 'Analytic'. I suggest that there is a resemblance between the Greek word lussa, “wolfish rage” and the Greek -lusis of analysis from the Indo-European root *leu- 'To loosen': The myth of Fenrisulfr who broke loose his chains and will break loose again at Ragnarok might add further confirmation. And in the wolf-lore of the Bestiaries it is said that "if the wolf senses that the man has seen it first, it loses its fierceness and its power to run" [The Aberdeen Bestiary Project], it becomes paralyzed para-lusis.

"The word lupus, wolf, in our Latin tongue derives from the Greek. For the Greeks call it licos" [The Aberdeen Bestiary Project].

Greek licos means 'to lick'. Licking faces plays a large role in wolf hierarchy with inferior wolves groveling to their superiors by licking their faces. The AHD says wolf is a term used of a man given to paying unwanted sexual attention to women, a lecherous man, the wolf-whistle is an often unsolicited expression of sexual attention. The Big Bad Wolf is also seen as trying to seduce Little Red Riding Hood. These words derive from the Indo-European *leigh- 'To lick'. Derivatives: lichen (from Greek leikhein, to lick), lick (from Old English liccian, to lick), lecher, lecherous (from Old French lechier, to live in debauchery). [Pokorny leigh- 668. Watkins]

Perhaps like no other animal wolves have a strict, elaborate, social hierarchy, with the alphas at the top and the omega at the bottom, that affects all activities in the pack. Every single wolf knows their own 'alphabetical' order in the pack. Walking in line on a mountain pathway the alpha will be the first wolf of the pack and the omega the last. (Goats also have hierarchical characteristics which might be termed 'rank'). 

© Anne Wright 2008.