mythologist to trace the pedigree of the ideas from which such
a conception may have sprung; while to the critical historian
belongs the task of ascertaining and classifying the actual
facts which this particular conception was used to interpret.

[65] Were-wolf = man-wolf, wer meaning "man." Garou is a
Gallic corruption of werewolf, so that loup-garou is a
tautological expression.

The mediaeval belief in werewolves is especially adapted to
illustrate the complicated manner in which divers mythical
conceptions and misunderstood natural occurrences will combine
to generate a long-enduring superstition. Mr. Cox, indeed,
would have us believe that the whole notion arose from an
unintentional play upon words; but the careful survey of the
field, which has been taken by Hertz and Baring-Gould, leads
to the conclusion that many other circumstances have been at
work. The delusion, though doubtless purely mythical in its
origin, nevertheless presents in its developed state a curious
mixture of mythical and historical elements.

With regard to the Arkadian legend, taken by itself, Mr. Cox
is probably right. The story seems to belong to that large
class of myths which have been devised in order to explain the
meaning of equivocal words whose true significance has been
forgotten. The epithet Lykaios, as applied to Zeus, had
originally no reference to wolves: it means "the bright one,"
and gave rise to lycanthropic legends only because of the
similarity in sound between the names for "wolf" and
"brightness." Aryan mythology furnishes numerous other