Werewolves in European Lore 

Werewolf are known as lycanthrope, from the Greek for wolf man. They are well- known through the mythological or folklore world. These shapeshifters, can change into a wolf or an anthropomorphic form, with attributions of human characteristics or behaviors. This can happen in one of two ways: 

If the change is voluntary, it is cause by an act of magic be it from : 

A Word or Phrase, A Potion or A Magic Object and the shape shifter can change at will.

If the change is involuntary, it was caused by a curse or spell by: 

A Wizard, Magician, Fairy or Deity’s Will

The change is usually a temporary change and occurs at night or during a full moon. Hence the saying ‘howling at the moon.’

Lycanthropy, the ability to change into a wolf and the act of doing so, comes from the Greek word lykanthrops meaning wolf and the Greek word lykos meaning human; hence the wolfman.

Shape-shifters are also known as Versipellis. 

The first time werewolves are mention is in the writing of  Petronius of ancient Greece by the medieval Chronicler Gervase of Tilbury. Werewolves have superhuman strength and senses greater than that of either man or wolf. The werewolves are general associated with European legends although the legends and myths have spread throughout the world. Shape-shifters are seen in tales from all over the world, most notably among the Native Peoples as their culture uses animals in their mythology.

Today’s werewolves have different characteristics than the original werewolves and two of the most popular are: 

They are only vulnerable to silver bullets and they can cause others to become werewolves by biting or wounding them.

The werewolf shares physical traits with humans in their human form. These include: 

Eyes that meet at the bridge of the nose, fingernails that are curved, ears that are low set and a swinging stride.

The werewolf can be identified by: 

A cut in the flesh, can’t be seen when he is a werewolf, bristles under its tongue, it has no tail, characteristic of witches in wolf form, they can run on three legs and the fourth is used as a tale and once they become human, they eat recently buried corpses.

There are various ways of becoming a werewolf: 

The simplest way is striping away your clothing and putting on a wolf skin, most likely a substitute for the entire skin, rubbing your body with a magic salve or drinking rainwater from the footprint of a wolf.

Werewolf literature show examples of God cursing those who invoke werewolfism and those excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church are said to become werewolves. In 1692 Thiess a man from Jurgenburg Livonia testified that he and other werewolves were the Hounds of God. Claiming that the warriors who went down into hell to do battle with witches and demons. He was sentenced ten lashes for Idolatry and superstitions beliefs. 

The distinction between voluntary and involuntary werewolves is that the voluntary werewolves generally were thought to have made a pact with the devil. They would morph into werewolves at night indulging in nefarious acts. Whereas the involuntary werewolves are werewolves by accident of birth or health and usually born during a new moon or suffer from epilepsy were werewolves.

The silver bullet theory didn’t appear before the 19th century in werewolf legends. They can’t by harmed by religious artifacts like crucifixes and holy water.

In medieval Europe there were only three ways traditionally to cure a victim of werewolfism who considered these men evil who terrorized people in the form of wolves on the command of the devil: 

Medicinally usually with the aid of wolfsbane , a wild poisonous plant, surgically or through exorcism.

Most of the time the patients died from the cure. These are some of the many legends and myths about werewolves.