Note to Þul Sverða 4^III

[3] verulfr (m.) ‘man-wolf’: This heiti, which is not found elsewhere, can be interpreted either as a cpd whose elements are verr m. ‘man’ and úlfr m. ‘wolf’ (adopted in the present edn) or as a cpd whose first element is derived from the weak verb verja ‘defend’ (cf. SnE 1998, II, 426). The second alternative is unlikely, because a form of verja is otherwise not attested as the first element in compounds. If the cpd is interpreted as ‘man-wolf’, this can be explained in two ways (cf. Falk 1914b, 63). (a) As in Modern English (werewolf) and Modern German (Werwolf), the word could denote a person who periodically transforms himself into a wolf. The word verúlfr m. ‘werewolf’ is never used in Old Norse, however, where the adj. hamramr ‘able to change one’s shape’ and other derivatives of hamr m. ‘skin’ express the same concept (although vargúlfr occurs once as a coinage of a translator; see CVC: vargúlfr ‘were-wolf’). (b) ‘Man-wolf’ or ‘wolf of the man’, i.e. ‘an animal that harms a man’, is a kenning for ‘sword’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B, followed by Skald) opts for the Tˣ variant ‘ver.vlfr’, normalised as verr, ulfr in which verr m. ‘defender’ (a hap. leg.) is related to ON verja ‘defend’ and ulfr is ‘wolf’. Úlfr is not attested as a heiti for ‘sword’, however, and it is difficult to see how verr in the sense ‘defender’ can be derived from verja.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.