''Were'' and ''wer'' are
archaic
Archaic is a period of time preceding a designated classical period, or something from an older period of time that is also not found or used currently:
*List of archaeological periods
**Archaic Sumerian language, spoken between 31st - 26th cent ...
terms for
adult
An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...
male humans and were often used for
alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures ( ang, wer, odt, wer, got, waír, ofs, wer, osx, wer, goh, wer, non, verr).
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. If he was murdered then his relatives were entitled to his
wergild as compensation from the murderer.
Etymology and usage
The word has cognates in various other languages, for example, the words ' (as in
virility) and ' (plural ' as in
Fir Bolg
In medieval Irish myth, the Fir Bolg (also spelt Firbolg and Fir Bholg) are the fourth group of people to settle in Ireland. They are descended from the Muintir Nemid, an earlier group who abandoned Ireland and went to different parts of Europe. ...
) are the
Latin and
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 ...
for a male human.
While this prefix may not be derived from the above word,
[Concise OED, entry "werewolf"] in
folklore and
fantasy fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
, ''were-'' is often used as a
prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
applied to an
animal name to indicate a type of
therianthropic figure or
shapeshifter (''e.g.'' "were-
boar"). Hyphenation used to be mandatory, but is now commonly dropped, as in
werecat and
wererat. This usage can be seen as a
back-formation from ''
werewolf'' (literally, "man-
wolf"), as there is no equivalent ''wifwolf'' or ''wyfwolf'' yet attested.
See also
*
List of common false etymologies of English words#Other for a longer discussion of wer, wyf, and mann
*
Man (word)
* For shapeshifters:
**
Cynanthropy
**
Lycanthropy (disambiguation)
**
Mannaz
**
Skin-walker
**
Therianthropy
**
Werecat
**
Werehyena
**
Were-jaguar
The were-jaguar was both an Olmec motif and a supernatural entity, perhaps a deity.
The were-jaguar motif is characterized by almond-shaped eyes, a downturned open mouth, and a cleft head. It appears widely in the Olmec archaeological record, a ...
**
Wererat
**
Werewolf
References
{{reflist
Etymologies
English words
