The wulver or wullver is a kind of

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

-like

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

creature in the

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

of the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

of Scotland. In modern times, the origin of the wulver has been disputed.

History

The wulver is said by the Shetland folklorist

Jessie Saxby Jessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby (30 June 1842 – 27 December 1940) was an author and folklorist from Unst, one of the Shetland Islands of Scotland. She also had political interests and was a suffragette. Family Born on 30 June 1842 at ...

to be benevolent, although later accounts state that they became violent if provoked. They were generally friendly to locals, however, and were known to share the fish they caught with them. They were usually described as looking like furry people with the head of a wolf. Some accounts claim they were never human to begin with. Saxby, in ''Shetland Traditional Lore'' writes:In previous publications, Saxby spelled the word as "wullver."

Interpretations

After researching folklore traditions gathered primarily from

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

areas of Scotland, an authority on congenital disorders, Susan Schoon Eberly, has speculated that the tale of the wulver may have its basis in humans suffering a medical condition; possibly

Hunter syndrome Hunter syndrome, or mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II), is a rare genetic disorder in which large sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans (or GAGs or mucopolysaccharides) build up in body tissues. It is a form of lysosomal storage disease. ...

, she suggests. This theoretical basis of wulver lore has been criticised as not useful, or, especially, reliable, particularly given a lack of any surviving detailed description of the wulver; the malleable and shifting nature of oral traditions; and the existence of other, analogous, mythological creatures in many folklore traditions (suggesting that tales of such creatures are likely to spontaneously arise in many places). Others, such as Brian Smith, argue that the ''wulver'' is an entirely fictitious creation that was never part of Shetland folklore, contending the creature is solely the creation of Saxby. The proponents of this view argue that Saxby, whether intentionally or in error, misinterpreted the meaning of a name in her sources. In this interpretation,

Jakob Jakobsen Jakob Jakobsen (22 February 1864 — 15 August 1918) was a Faroese linguist and scholar. The first Faroe Islander to earn a doctoral degree, his thesis on the Norn language of Shetland was a major contribution to its historical preservation. I ...

and John Spence had mentioned a hill called ''Wulvers Hool'' in their writings, stating that it was named after a

fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

. Saxby, not understanding that the word ''wulver'' was derived from an old Norse word for ''fairy'', accidentally created the wulver as Shetland folklore, writing about it as if belief in such a creature had always existed.

References

{{Scottish mythology Scottish mythology Werewolves Scottish legendary creatures Shetland culture

History

Interpretations

See also

References