An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Wolf

by Friedrich Kluge

Wolf, masculine, ‘wolf,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German wolf, masculine; common to Teutonic and also to Aryan; compare Gothic wulfs, Old Saxon wulf, Dutch wolf, Anglo-Saxon wulf, English wolf. Teutonic wulfo-, from wulpo-, is based on Aryan wlqo-, wlko-; compare Sanscrit vṛ́ka, Old Slovenian vlûkŭ. Lithuanian vilkas, Greek λύκος, Latin lupus, ‘wolf.’ On account of this apparent similarity between Wolf and the equivalent words of the other Aryan languages, Latin vulpes, ‘fox,’ cannot be allied. The Aryan term wlko- has been rightly compared with the Aryan root welk, ‘to march,’ preserved in Greek ἕλκω, Old Slovenian vlęką, so that Wolf meant perhaps ‘robber.’ The word was often used in Teutonic to form names of persons; compare Wolfram, under Rabe; Rudolf, from Ruodolf (literally ‘famous wolf,’ see Ruhm), Adolf, from Adalolf (literally ‘noble wolf, see Adel).