The wild man (, ), or wild man of the woods, is a mythical figure and motif resembling a hairy human that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe. Generally they are considered a large-statured race of humans who are hairy all over their body, and live in the wilderness or woodlands. They are often thought to be covered with moss, or wear green or vegetative clothing, and iconically wield a club or hold an uprooted tree as a staff. They also occur in female versions as wild women.
The () is attested in Middle High German literature, particularly German heroic epics, while the female () figures in the Arthurian works, typically appear as adversaries. These beings are also called by names meaning "wood men" and in older forms of the language, "wood maiden", "wood wife", or "wood woman". In Middle English a corresponding term for the wild man is or .
In the folklore of German-speaking areas collected mainly in the 19th century, there are especially the Alpine wild men and wild women. These beings could be man-hunters or otherwise be sinister, but could also endow luck or bounty, exhibiting aspects of woodland spirits.
The folklore that had developed in the mining areas around Harz or Ore Mountains by the 16th century regarded the wild man of the mines (also known as "mountain monk") as potentially both dangerous and beneficent, guiding humans to the discovery of ore deposits. The house of the Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Brunswick-Lüneburg), which controlled one of the silver mines, minted silver ('dollar') coinage with the wild man in their coat-of-arms, starting 1539.
These wild men had already frequently appeared in European family heraldic devices since the latter half of the 15th century. It also became commonplace to depict the wild man as shield-bearers of the family coat of arms (e.g., within a portrait painting by Albrecht Dürer, cf. image right). This period also roughly coincides with the popularization of the concept of the "noble wild man" or "noble savage" as can already be seen in Hans Sachs's "Lament of the Wild Men" (1530), and also reflected in artistic depictions of the wild folk from this period onward.
The wild man or wild woman in folklore was believed to be the protector of the (sustainability of) wild game, especially the chamois (), and stories tell of the hunter who breached the taboo being knocked off a precipice or turned into stone.
The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; iconography from the 12th century onward has consistently depicted the wild man as being covered with hair. Around the same transition period, biblical or other humans afflicted with madness came to be conventionally depicted with hairiness, and subsequently, literary figures who temporarily lose sanity and live in the wild (Merlin, Ywain) also came to be associated with wild men.
Terminology
"Wild man" is a technical term in use since the Middle Ages, applied to a hairy human-like creature with certain animal-like traits but which has not quite descended to the level of ape; it may have hairless spots around the face, palms, feet, sometimes elbows and knees, and around the breasts in case of the female "wild woman". If the creature exhibits additional animal-like traits, it may not be a wild man in question, but rather the satyr, faun, or the devil (Bernheimer's definition). quoted by
"Wild man" and its cognates in some languages are the common terms for the creature in most modern languages; it appears in German as , in French as . However, in Italian, ("forest man") is often used (var. ).
The German wild man () also occurs in a more modern folklore tradition, localized in a region spanning from Switzerland to Carinthia, Austria (and often Hesse in Germany) according to the (HdA), registered under such names as , , Tirol p. 518 (Nr. 86. Die wilden Bergfräulein in Martell); Volkssagen p. 180 apud HdA ,Golther Mythol. p. 188: ; , , etc., apud HdA ,Baumberger, Georg (1903) Sankt Galler Land, Sankt Galler Volk p. 189, apud HdA. , . Plural forms are: , or or . Females are also called (pl. ).
The "wild man" is attested in Middle High German as in the 13th century, once in a lyrical poem alluding to the story of the giant Sigenot, i.e., an epic featuring both giant and wild man, from the Dietrich von Bern cycle. Another attestation occurs in the Arthurian romance which gives (v. 203), as well as the female form (vv. 112, 200, 227ff.) (For additional examples in MHG literature cf. below).
In Old High German, the term () together with () occurs in a glossary under the heading of the Latin term lamia (female monster). The same glossary under the heading of Latin ( but here understood to be equivalent to strix of mythology) gives the gloss .Lexer (1872) s.v. "holz-muoje, -muowe" (also ib. holz-muoje@woerterbuchnetz) There are also the forms (holzwîb), as well as and numerous others.
Another old example is the mention of " " ("house of the wild women"), a piece of landmark or toponymy somewhere in Hessen, mentioned in (c. 1150) by the monk Eberhard of Fulda or a redaction given by Johann Pistorius the Younger (d. 1608).
Wood-folk type synonyms The wild man is referred to as in Wolfdietrich, and in the same work, the title hero must deal with the advances of ("Shaggy Else"), classified as a wild woman (cf. below).
In the epic Laurin the wild man is referred to as a (). The same term is used in Iwein to characterize the herdsman as a wild man, and he is also described as being as hairy as a (Lexer (1876) s.v. "tôre" (also ib. tôre@woerterbuchnetz), mod. ), (Cf. Iwein discussed below under ).
A group of OHG glosses for wild woman (lamia, etc.) was already discussed above. In MHG, an attested synonym for wild woman is ().Lexer (1872) s.v. "holz-wîp" (also ib. holz-wîp@woerterbuchnetz)
In modern regional folklore, the creatures with sylvan (wood-related) names that correspond to the Alpine wild folk are the or (wood- or moss people) of Central Germany, Franconia, and Bavaria; aka , of the Bohemian Forest and the Upper Palatinate; the Waldweiblein and () of the Harz mountains region; the (; ) of Halle further east in Saxony; and the () of Westphalia. Usage of names such as Lohjungfer, Holzfräulein, extends further south in Saxon Vogtland.
is synonymous to , which is an exception, since and its extensions (cf. Fänge below) generally refer to females.Sanders, Daniel Hendel (1885) Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, s.v. "" The variant form is also given in commentary. As for ("goatherd") or ("cowherd"), the wild man may be designated by the name of his profession in a narrative where he is engaged in the herding of livestock.
Cf. also the etymological relation between the term "sylvan" ("of the woods"), the French term meaning "wild", and the Sal- group of names for the wild men used in the Italian Alps (Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) region under below. Cf. also "woodwose" under .
Other aliases Folklore in Tyrol and German-speaking Switzerland into the 20th century refers to the wild woman called (var. , ), commented as being equivalent to Selige Fräulein (Salige Frau) This name is thought to be post-medieval neologism deriving from the Latin fauna, the feminine form of faun. The wild women of the Alpine region are "identical to or closely related to" the Fänggen or the Salige (Salige Frauen). The extended form is considered a male noun (ein Wild-fang), but Wild-fang (var. ) is still applied to a female.
The wild man is called a (corruption of "wild man"), , or in Wälsch-Tirol (present-day Trento Province), which may be spelt or , with usage extending to Lombardy. The wild man is called by Ladin language-speakers in Folgrait (Folgaria) and Trambileno; this is readily recognizable as equivalent to French , where Old French derives from Latin "sylvan, pertaining to forest". Hence the names in this grouping are related to Silvanus, the Roman tutelary god of gardens and the countryside. The (medieval Latin) term was in fact used in the sense of "wild woman" by Burchard of Worms in the 10th century, and it has been suggested he was referring to beings who would have been called in dialect according to modern-day folklore., cited by , .
The local name or was supposedly current either in Ronchi near Ala, or the aforementioned Folgrait and Trambileno areas. Likewise there are a sort of wild women known as or (diminutive: ) in Carinthia., "110. Berchtra und dei Wile Jagd oder die Klage"; "111. Von der Berchtra".
It is contended that the or Orke or ; or ; or , , in folklore from parts of the Alps, particularly Tyrol, also may correspond to the wild man, citing [von der] . with the proviso that these (especially diminutives) are names for "wild dwarf people".: "wildes Zwergvolk". This appears to be connected to Italian (, ) in the sense of "subterraneans" (≈dwarfs recognizing Unterirdischen as Zwerg. or gnomesSanders, Daniel (1910) Handwörterbuch der deutschen sprache s.v. ), or perhaps rather a "harmless wild folk" version of the orco such as appears in the literary fairy tales of the Pentamerone. on harmless orco: "", alluded to in . The Italian orco is cognate to French ogre, as is modern literary orcs, and is related to Orcus, a Roman and Italic god of death.
The (; ) of the Giant Mountains is also considered another regional fabulous being corresponding to the wild woman of the Alpine Region.
English terms In Old English/Anglo-Saxon there has been recorded the term meaning "satyr" or "faun",Bosworth. Anglo-Saxon Dictionary s.v. "" a compound of "woodland, forest" and of uncertain etymology,; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles X, Part 2, s.v. "" though perhaps meaning "forest dweller";, § The Man With a Wolf's Skin or else it may perhaps be a compound formed from *wāsa "being", from the verb wesan, wosan "to be, to be alive".Robert Withington, English Pageantry: An Historical Outline, vol. 1, Ayer Publishing, 1972, , p. 74
From it has derived Middle English .Lewis, Robert E. ed.-in-chief (1952) Middle English Dictionary Part W.7, University of Michigan, s.v. "", pp. 825–826 Variant spellings include , etc. The ME term wodehose was ambiguously singular or plural. The (modern) pronunciation of varies, and may end in an s-like or z-like stress.
As for examples of usage, Wycliffe's Bible (after 1382 [to 1395]), in Isaiah 13:21, used ( rather than the King James Version's "satyr"KJV "owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there". to translate the original Hebrew (pronounced , meaning "hairy [one]"). Latin translation gave , and LXX rendered as (daimon).
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1390), Gawain is said to have fought with worms (dragons) as well as a "wodwos" that lived in the craggy rocks; this wild man (woodwose) has no relation to the Green Knight, but is just another enemy whom Sir Gawain happens to encounter in journey.
The Middle English word is first attested for the 1340s in the context of a decorative piece of art depicting a wild man, namely a piece of tapestry of the Great Wardrobe of Edward III, but as a surname it is found as early as 1251, of one Robert de Wudewuse. The Middle English term meaning "wild man" is found embedded in the Anglo-Norman caption to a painting in the Taymouth Hours (14th century) (cf. ).
There has been continued use in modern English for "woodwose, woodhouse", though now obsolete, displaced in modern usage by "wild man". The surnames Wodehouse or Woodhouse may derive straightforwardly from "house in the woods", or as a corruption of woodwose.Hanks, Patrick, Coates, Richard, McClure, Peter edd. (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland s.v. "" variants: Wodehouse, Woodus, Wooders, Widdas, Widders.
Medieval literature
Verbal descriptions of the wild folk in medieval literature will be mainly discussed here. Visual depictions during the medieval period will be discussed under .
German epic