Slavic bestiary: Volkodlak

Volkodlak - werewolf in Slavic tradition. Although the wolf shape is the most common, Russian oboroten’ can take shape of any animal, or even a haystack, a stone etc. “Volkodlak” (volkolak, Ukrainian vovkulaka), however, is an ancient Slavic term specifically for werewolf, not commonly used in modern Russian; “dlaka” (shaggy skin) is not a modern Russian word. Volkodlak could be either a wizard taking wolf shape (as Vseslav Polotsky from “Igor’s Campaign”, or folkloric Volkh or Volga, discussed here previously), or a regular man turned into a wolf by wizardry.