larger carnivorous canine of the Old World, hunting in packs, destructive to farm animals, and occasionally attacking humans; Middle English, from Old English wulf "wolf; wolfish person, devil," from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from PIE root *wlkwo- "wolf."

This is reconstructed to also be the source of Sanskrit vrkas, Avestan vehrka-; Albanian ul'k; Old Church Slavonic vluku; Russian volcica; Lithuanian vilkas "wolf;" probably also Greek lykos, Latin lupus. Germanic cognates include Old Saxon wulf, Old Norse ulfr, Old Frisian, Dutch, Old High German, German wolf, Gothic wulfs. Old Persian Varkana- is "Hyrcania," district southeast of the Caspian Sea, literally "wolf-land;"

The type of a predator, it was commonly contrasted to sheep; in reference to persons in Middle English it denotes rapacity, ferocity, one who preys on the innocent or powerless. Also a complimentary word for a warrior in Germanic given names, as Adolf, Rudolph. The animal probably was driven to extinction in England by the end of the 15th century, in Scotland by the early 18th. The U.S. gray wolf is a different and larger species.

Wolves as a symbol of lust are ancient, such as Roman slang lupa "whore," literally "she-wolf" (preserved in Spanish loba, Italian lupa, French louve). The equation of "wolf" and "prostitute, sexually voracious female" persisted (wolfesse glosses Latin lupa late 14c.), but by Elizabethan times wolves had become primarily symbolic of male lust.

The specific use of wolf for "sexually aggressive male" is attested by 1847. Colloquial wolf-whistle is attested by 1945, American English, at first associated with sailors ashore.

The image of a wolf in sheep's skin is attested from c. 1400. To cry wolf "raise a false alarm" is by 1812, from the well-known moral story of the shepherd boy (attested in English by 1690s). To keep the wolf from the door "keep out hunger or want" is by late 15c.

This manne can litle skyl ... to saue himself harmlesse from the perilous accidentes of this world, keping ye wulf from the doore (as they cal it). ["The Institution of a Gentleman," 1555]

The wolf-spider (the European tarantula) is so called by c. 1600, for prowling and leaping on its prey rather than waiting in a web. Figurative throw (someone) to the wolves is by 1927.

Middle English housbond, hosebonde, husbond, husbund, from Old English husbonda "male head of a household, master of a house, householder," which is probably from Old Norse husbondi "master of the house," literally "house-dweller," from hus "house" (see house (n.)) + bondi "householder, dweller, freeholder, peasant," from buandi, present participle of bua "to dwell" (from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, grow," and compare bond (adj.)).

From late 13c. it replaced Old English wer as "married man (in relation to his wife)" and became the companion word of wife, a sad loss for English poetry. Old English wer, in the broadest sense "man, male person" (from PIE root *wi-ro- "man"), is preserved in werewolf.

The slang shortening hubby is attested by 1680s.

1620s in the classical sense "one who imagines himself to be a wolf and behaves as one;" 1825 in the modern sense "werewolf, human who supernaturally transforms into a wolf," from Modern Latin lycanthropus, from Greek lykanthropos "wolf-man" (see lycanthropy), and compare werewolf. Related: Lycanthropic.

1580s, a form of madness (described by ancient writers) in which the afflicted thought he was a wolf, from Greek lykanthropia, from lykanthropos "wolf-man," from lykos "wolf" (see wolf (n.)) + anthrōpos "man" (from PIE root *ner- (2) "man"). Applied to actual transformations of persons (especially witches) into wolves since 1830 (see werewolf).

Middle English manhede, manhode, "state of being human" (early 13c.), from man (n.) + -hood. Sense of "manliness, qualities considered becoming to a man" (variously: "courageous behavior, bravery; courteous behavior, gentility; compassion, kindness") is from c. 1300. Meaning "state of being an adult male" is from late 14c.

 Similar words in Old English also were less explicitly masculine: manscipe "humanity, courtesy," literally "man-ship;" mennisclicnes "state of man, humanity, humaneness, human nature" (compare mannish). The more purely "manly" word was werhad "male sex, virility, manhood" (see first element in werewolf).

Middle English, from Old English woruld, worold "human secular existence, pursuits, pleasures, and worries of this life," also "a long period of time," also "the human race, mankind, humanity" (but not "the earth"), a word peculiar to Germanic languages, with a literal sense of "age of man."

It is reconstructed to be from a Proto-Germanic compound of *wer "man" (Old English wer, still in werewolf; see virile) and *ald "age" (Old English ald; see old). Cognates include Old Saxon werold, Old Frisian warld, Dutch wereld, Old Norse verold, Old High German weralt, German Welt). Latin saeculum can mean both "age" and "world," as can Greek aiōn.

Originally "life on earth, this world (as opposed to the afterlife)." The sense extended to "the known world," then to "the physical world in the broadest sense, creation, the universe" (by c. 1200).

The oldest sense is in world without end (translating Latin saecula saeculorum), and in worldly. In theology especially "that part of humanity devoted to secular affairs and pleasures of the present state" (mid-14c.), a sense often revived by later sects. In modern scientific conception, "planetary body conceived of as peopled," by 1713. 

In Old English gospels, the commonest word for "the physical world," was Middangeard (Old Norse Midgard), literally "the middle enclosure" (see yard (n.1)), which is rooted in Germanic cosmology. Greek kosmos in its ecclesiastical sense of "world of people" sometimes was rendered in Gothic as manaseþs, literally "seed of man." The usual Old Norse word was heimr, literally "abode" (see home).

According to Buck, words for "world" in some other Indo-European languages derive from the root for "bottom, foundation" (such as Irish domun, Old Church Slavonic duno, related to English deep); the Lithuanian word is pasaulis, from pa- "under" + saulė "sun."

The English word later was used of any state or sphere of existence (c. 1200), such as "whole number of people united by a common faith, heritage, etc." (c. 1600). In modern geography, 1550s, "particular portion or part of the globe" (as New World).

It is attested by c., 1200 in emphatic phrases expressing wonder, perplexity, etc. (as how in the world?). The hyperbolic or emphatic meaning "a great quantity or number," in a world of, is from late 14c. For all the world "in every particular" is by mid-14c.

Out of this world "surpassing, marvelous" is from 1928; earlier it meant "dead." To think the world of "hold in highest possible esteem" is by 1886, American English.

I know a little maiden

With hair of raven hue

She thinks the world of me

Though she may not care for you.

["About My Girl," in Bangor (Maine) Commercial, April 3, 1886]

World power in the geopolitical sense is recorded by 1900. World language is by 1867 as "language understood and employed on every continent;" by 1877 in reference to English as the proper one, by 12885 of Volapuk.

World Cup is by 1951; U.S. baseball World Series is by 1893 (originally often World's Series). World-class is attested from 1950, originally of Olympic athletes.

World-wearied is by 1590s.

*wī-ro-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "man."

It might form all or part of: curia; Fergus; triumvir; triumvirate; Weltanschauung; Weltschmerz; werewolf; wergeld; world; virago; virile; virility; virtue; virtuosity; virtuoso; virtuous.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit virah, Avestan vira-, Latin vir, Lithuanian vyras, Old Irish fer, Welsh gwr, Gothic wair, Old English wer "a man."