The Elusive Vukodlak

[leshy]

The Elusive Vukodlak

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A11101654#footnote1
The word 'vampire' is referenced for the very first time in a Slavic manuscript in 1047 - but the manuscript has nothing to do with vampires. Instead, the word upyr' (cognate with 'vampire') turns up as a proper name - Upir' Lichyj - referring to a particular Prince of Novgorod.

Russian names of the period very often were descriptive rather than simple nomenclature, but if the term upyr' meant anything at this period, nothing is known of it.

The first time the actual concept of a vampire appears in literature is over 200 years later, in a Nomokanon from 1262. The term used is vukodlak (which is today cognate with vampire in Serbo-Croat traditions, but not in East and West Slavic folktales). It turns up in various Slavic languages as vlokodlaci, vorkolak, vârcolac, vrykolaka, vurkolak, vârcolaci and svârcolaci.

The term 'vampire' has a rich but speculative etymological history, clearly being birthed in the Bulgarian area and subsequently being transferred into other Slavic cultures.

http://ladyofspiders.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/history-of-the-werewolf/
A werewolf in folklore and mythology is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. The medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury associated the transformation with the appearance of the full moon, but this concept was rarely associated with the werewolf until the idea was picked up by modern fiction writers. Most modern references agree that a werewolf can be killed if shot by a silver bullet, although this is more a reflection of fiction's influence than an authentic feature of the folk legends. A werewolf allegedly can be killed by complete destruction of heart or brain; silver isn't necessary.

Many European countries and cultures have stories of werewolves, including France (loup-garou), Greece (lycanthropos), Spain (hombre lobo), Bulgaria (varkolak, vulkodlak), Czech Republic (vlkodlak), Serbia (vukodlak), Russia (oboroten' , vurdalak), Ukraine (vovkulak(a),vovkun, pereverten' ), Croatia (vukodlak), Poland (wilkolak), Romania (varcolac), Scotland (werewolf, wulver), England (werwolf), Ireland (faoladh or conriocht), Germany (Werwolf), Denmark/Sweden (Varulv), Galicia(lobisÛn),, Portugal(( lobisomem)) Lithuania (vilkolakis and vilkatlakis), Latvia (vilkatis and vilkacis), Andorra (home llop), Estonia (libahunt), Argentina (lobizon, hombre lobo) and Italy (lupo mannaro). In northern Europe, there are also tales about people changing into animals including bears and wolves.

http://www.winterscapes.com/slavic.htm
Vampire, this word comes from South Slav "vampir." The modern word is "vukodlak," meaning wolf's hair, though this creature is like a cross between a vampire and a werewolf. The Istrian Slavs believed that every family has a vukodlak, which battles with their kresnik (a good spirit)

http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/vampire.htm
Before progressing further, I should first clarify the relationship of the werewolf to the vampire. It is virtually impossible to separate the two, particularly in Slavonic languages where they share the same name. Montague Summers explained this group of terms: "This word Slovenian volkodlak, vukodlak ,vulkodlak, is a compound form of which the first half means "wolf" whilst the second half has been identified, although the actual relation is not quite demonstrable, with blaka, which in Old Slavonic, New Slavonic and serbian signifies the "hair" of a cow or a horse or a horse's mane." (20)

This is also etymologically identical to the Greek vrykolakas and the Romanian varcolac. Summers goes on to demonstrate the likenesses between the vampire and the werewolf, pointing out that a man who has been a werewolf inof a sheep killed by wolves also joins the ranks of the Undead when the die. Then the scholar advises us  life is believed to become a vampire in death, and that in some areas those who eat the meat that: ".... it must be remembered that although the superstitions of the werewolf and the vampire in many respects agree, and in more than one point are indeed precisely similar, there is, especially in Slavonic traditions, a very great distinction, for the Slavonic Vampire is precisely defined and it is the incorrupt and re-animated dead body which returns from its grave, otherwise it cannot be said strictly to be a vampire."

Therefore, according to Summers, the difference is simply that the vampire is dead, whereas the werewolf is still living. However, as we have seen, the death of the vampire was probably merely the symbolic death of shamans and the wolf has associations with death and the underworld too.

This is just something I have a personal interest in and find interesting. Why are the accounts of the Vukodlak so mixed? Is it simply a language barrier? I don't think so as the visual aspects of the vampire, werewolf and Vukodlak are all so different. What exactly is a Vukodlak, then? I personally think it's a species all its own with resemblances of both but a breed apart, that's what my own mind has conjured up anyway! What do you think?

[Regina Terra]

Makes me think of someone I have talked to, who believes they are part vampire, & part something else. Maybe they're not really a hybrid, but a throwback?

[blow_fly]

A throwback to what exactly?

[Regina Terra]

To the originals, all that just said that they were both practically the same thing. The only difference is tht the vampire is the undead.

But thats only in the myths & legends, the vampires on this forum certainly aren't dead.

[blow_fly]

Well, that depend son your defintion of ''vampire'',no? For many individuals, the only vampires that truly exist are the undead fiends of folklore.