ArtistInfo

Wulf

voc, *1987
Singer of Dance
A.k.a. Lieuwe Albertsma

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, Adolph 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. 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).