of bodily shape, though the words taken literally assert it. For they are derived from hamr, a skin or habit; a word which has its representatives in other íAryan languages, and is therefore a primitive word expressive of the skin of a beast.
The Sanskrit र्चम्म ćarmma; the Hindustanee جلم cam, hide or skin; and چمرا camra, leather; the Persian حامه ǵame, clothing, disguise; the Gothic ham or hams, skin; and even the Italian camicia, and the French chemise, are cognate words.[1]
It seems probable accordingly that the verb að hamaz was first applied to those who wore the skins of savage animals, and went about the country as freebooters; but that popular superstition soon invested them with supernatural powers, and they were supposed to assume the forms of the beasts in whose skins they were disguised. The verb then acquired the significance "to become a were-wolf, to change shape." It did not stop there, but went through another change of meaning, and was finally applied to those who were afflicted with paroxysms of madness or demoniacal possession.
This was not the only word connected with
- ↑ I shall have more to say on this subject in the chapter on the Mythology of Lycanthropy.
