lycanthrope

[Gr. lykanthropos, from lykos =a wolf, and anthropos =a man.] 1. A man supposed to have been transformed into the form of a wolf, and endowed with a wolf's nature and propensities; a werewolf (q. v.). 2. A person suffering from lycanthropy (q. v.). ly-căn-thrō-pi-a, s. [Modern Latin.] [LYCAN Path .: A species of insanity in which the patient believes himself transformed into a wolf. THROPE.] "Many examples of lycanthropia are on record, although an extremely rare disease at the present day. Those laboring under lycanthropis,' says Paulus Egineta, 'go out during the night, imitating wolves in all things, and lingering about sepulchres until morning. You may recognize such persons by these marks; they are pale, their vision feeble, their eyes dry, tongue very dry, and the flow of saliva stopped; but they are thirsty, and they have incurable ulcerations from frequent falls.' " -Buck nill and Tuke: Psychological Medicine , p. 202. lỹ căn-throp-ic, a. [Eng. lycanthrop (y); -ic.] Afflicted with lycanthropy. "In a fit of lycanthropic madne , she came upon two children."-S. B. Gould: Were- Wolves , ch. vi. 2584 ly-căn-throp-Ist, s. [Eng. lycanthrop(y); -ist.] The same as LYCANTHROPE (q. v.). "Forest us pronounces the man to be a lycanthropist, but he does not say that the poor fellow believed himself to be transformed into a wolf."-8. B. Gould: Were-Wolves, ch. v. ly-căn-throp-ous, a. [English lycanthrop (y); -ous.] Belonging to, or in any way connected with, lycanthropy (q. v.). "There are two unfailing characteristics of lycanthrop ous belief:-(1) There can nowhere be a living belief in contemporary metamorphosis into any animal which has particular locality; (2) Belief in metamorphosis into the animal most prominent in any locality itself acquires a special prominence." -J. R. F. McLennan, in Encyc. Brit . (9th ed.), xv. 89.