Wulf

Wulf

Wulf (Common Germanic *wulfaz "wolf") was one of the most prolific elements in early Germanic names. It could figure as the first element in dithematic names, as in Wulfstan, but especially as second element, in the form -ulf, -olf as in Cynewulf, Rudolph, Ludolf, Adolf etc., it was extremely common. Förstemann explains this as originally motivated by the wolf as an animal sacred to Wodanaz, but notes that the large number of names indicates that the element had become a meaningless suffix of male names at an early time (and was therefore not anymore considered a "pagan" element at the time of Christianisation. Some early missionaries among Germanic folks still used it, like bishop Wulfilas however his family had been adopted earlier by the Goths. By the tenth century, there was clearly no "pagan" connotation left with such names, and saints and bishops bore names such as Wulfstan or Wolfgang). Förstemann counts 381 names in -ulf, -olf, among which only four are feminine.

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