lycanthropy (noun) - the affliction or delusion that one may, under certain conditions assume the form and characteristics of a wolf or other wild animal [lahy-kan-thruh-pee]
BREAKDOWN: LYC- (wolf) + ANTHROP- (man) + -Y (state)
a lycanthrope is a werewolf or someone afflicted with lycanthropy
See also: anthropomorphize, misanthrope, philanthropist
“In the first place, ‘lycanthropy’ is a fact of human nature. Men and women have actually been possessed by the belief that they are wolves or other animals, and they have, no doubt, acted on their delusion. In the old legends we are told that such a person was a woman by day and a wolf by night, and no doubt the ‘fit’ which transformed the human being into a creature of blind ferocity, running on all fours, gnashing its teeth and tearing to pieces all whom it encountered, occurred when the darkness came on, at the hour in which all that is morbid in mind and body is strongest. The were-wolf, then, is not a superstition but a fact, and a fact which goes very far in clearing up the early belief in metamorphosis.” —Arthur Machen
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