Is there a difference between a Lycan and a Werewolf?
The word werewolf is thought to derive from Old English wer (or were) and wulf. The first part, wer, translates as “man” (in the sense of male human, not the race of humanity). It has cognates in several Germanic languages including Gothic wair, Old High German wer, and Old Norse verr, as well as in other Indo-European languages, such as Sanskrit ‘vira’, Latin vir, Irish fear, Lithuanian vyras, and Welsh gŵr, which have the same meaning. The second half, wulf, is the ancestor of modern English “wolf”; in some cases it also had the general meaning “beast.” The term lycanthropy, a synonym, comes from Ancient Greek lykánthropos (λυκάνθρωπος): λύκος, lýkos (“wolf”) + άνθρωπος, ánthrōpos (“human”). A compound of which “lyc-” derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *wlkwo-, meaning “wolf”) formally denotes the “wolf – man” transformation. Lycanthropy is but one form of therianthropy, the ability to metamorphose into animals in general. The term therianthrope literally means “beast-man.” Th
