Q 01/05

'Werewolf' descends from wer(e)wulf, a compound from which historical language in which wer meant 'man'?

A) Old English

B) Old Norse

C) Old Saxon

D) Old Frisian

Answer · why

A) Old English

The wer element meant 'man', so the word is literally 'man-wolf'. It is a cognate of Middle Dutch weerwolf.

Q 02/05

The word 'lycanthropy' comes from an Ancient Greek term meaning what?

A) Moon-sickness

B) Wolf-man

C) Night-hunter

D) Beast-curse

Answer · why

B) Wolf-man

Lukánthrōpos combines lýkos (wolf) and ánthrōpos (man). The Greek root also gives us the name Lycaon.

Q 03/05

In Greek myth, Lycaon was turned into a wolf by Zeus after serving the god a meal of what?

A) Sacred cattle

B) Rotten fish

C) His own son

D) Poisoned wine

Answer · why

C) His own son

Lycaon killed and cooked his son Nyctimus to test whether Zeus was truly a god. Zeus later restored the boy to life.

Q 04/05

Which ancient historian reported that the Neuri were said to turn into wolves once a year?

A) Herodotus

B) Thucydides

C) Tacitus

D) Pliny the Elder

Answer · why

A) Herodotus

He recorded the claim in his Histories, attributing it to the Scythians and to Greeks settled in Scythia, and said he did not believe it himself.

Q 05/05

Which Roman work has a soldier urinate in a circle around his clothes and turn into a wolf?

A) Ovid's Metamorphoses

B) Petronius' Satyricon

C) Virgil's Aeneid

D) Apuleius' The Golden Ass

Answer · why

B) Petronius' Satyricon

The tale is told by the freedman Niceros at Trimalchio's dinner. The soldier's clothes turn to stone until he returns.