Pronunciation of werewolf

[PotteringPondering]

When I was growing up everybody pronounced it WEER-WOLF.

Now everybody seems to pronounce it WHERE-WOLF. I'm assuming it's an American thing. But even films with British accents seem to say 'WHERE-WOLF, no doubt for the American market.

I find this odd, particularly given the pronunciation of mere, here, sphere, sincere, adhere, revere etc.

I guess there's also premiere and derriere, but they both come from French words where a grave accent helps the 'air' sound (première, derrière).

The best evidence for the defence is there and where. But I suspect shenanigans going on with the h in both cases, which creates the AIR sound.

If I see an American werewolf round here I'm going to give it a sincere kick in the derrière.

Well I would go where wolf , but then one of the only things I can remember from Latin classes is ecce versipellis ( doesn't help with pronunciation )

wer is Old English for man. It's cognate with Latin 'vir', as a previous poster mentioned. Both derive from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós so the 'weir' pronunciation is almost certainly more 'authentic' (in the sense of closer to the original OE pronunciation).

@BasiliskStare probably from Stage 7 of the CLC!

Versipellis (Latin for werewolf) actually means 'skin changer' so nothing to do with vir/wer at all 😬

Same for me. "Ware"-wolf. My parents say the same and they are in their 70s.

Dialects can vary from one part of a city to another so maybe it's just that?

I knew from the title this would be about ‘weer’ wolf. I have certainly heard this used but not in recent times (I’m 53). I prefer weer over where but would say where wolf if saying it aloud now.

Weer wolf for me.

I've noticed the same thing, OP.

Hooray!

@greglet I bow to your knowledge but from over 40 years ago I still remember ecce versipellis. & yes it was the cambridge latin course - we also did the riots at Nicodemus ( sp) ( as I recall ) and because our teacher was keen on us acting the things a girl in my class was sent home because she was kicked in the ear. Said teacher did not come back next term and we had a v v v strict latin teacher next time round.

It’s where wolf

anyway … the word room rhymes with doom

If I ever decided to identify as a werewolf, I wouldn't want to embarrass myself in my new community by getting the pronunciation wrong.

So do I.

Just call yourself a lycanthrope.

Good idea.

So that would be
LIE-CAN-THROWP
LIE-CAN-THROP
LICK-AN-THROWP
LICK-AN-THROP
LICE-AN-THROWP
or
LICE-AN-THROP?

Another Irish person here saying it's ware-wolf not where-wolf. We pronounce the haitch.

...

When my DS was small he used to call them Where-were-wolves. He was a big fan of Scooby Doo but also had hearing problems ( puppies were poppies for many years) . So in our house they will be forever were-were-wolves.

On a similar note, in some parts of America they pronounce wolf 'woof', which unreasonably grinds my gears for some reason!

These are probably the same people that pronounce half as haff.

Nothing can be done for the stupid.
😉😁😁

*where-weer-wolves
auto correct just ruined my post

I really hope you have a rhotic accent if you're going to be throwing crap like that around.

How do you pronounce half then?

Large swathes of English speakers pronounce it ‘haf’ so it rhymes with ‘caf’. Both in the UK and internationally.

Eww. That's creepier somehow.

There's an MNer called Metella knocking about somewhere. Presumably also did CLC.

I'm 60, lived mostly in south west and south east England, and currently in north east England. I've never ever heard any other pronunciation than where wolf.

Flummoxed here - how should half be pronounced, in your opinion?

I'm curious about "half" as well.

It's definitely "where - wolf"

I know this for sure as I actually used to be a werewolf, but fortunately I am alright nooooooowww!

Half is pronounced haf. The l is silent.