Were
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Were and wer are archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures[1] (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx).
In Anglo-Saxon law wer was the value of a man's life. He could be required to pay his wer to the king as a penalty for crime.[2] If he was murdered then his relatives were entitled to his wergild as compensation from the murderer.
Etymology and usage
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The word has cognates in various other languages, for example, Latin Script error: No such module "Lang". (as in virility) and Gaelic Script error: No such module "Lang". (plural Script error: No such module "Lang". as in Fir Bolg) both mean a male human.
It is likely that wer forms part of a compound word in werewolf (man-wolf), although there are other proposed etymologies.[3] In folklore and fantasy fiction, were- is often prefixed to an animal name to indicate a therianthropic figure or shapeshifter (e.g. "were-boar"). Hyphenation used to be mandatory, but is now commonly dropped, as in werecat and wererat. There is no attested counterpart wifwylf or wyfwylf .
See also
- List of common false etymologies of English words#Other for a longer discussion of wer, wyf, and mann
- Man (word)
- For shapeshifters:
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rauer, Christine (January 2017). "Mann and Gender in Old English Prose: A Pilot Study". Neophilologus. 101 (1): 139–158. doi:10.1007/s11061-016-9489-1. hdl:10023/8978. S2CID 55817181.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Molyneaux, George (2015). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-19-871791-1.
- ^ Concise OED, entry "werewolf"
