Cynanthropy (sometimes spelled ''kynanthropy''; from /, 'dog' + /, 'man; human') is, in
psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior.
...
, the pathological delusion of real persons that they are dogs and in
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
and
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
, the supposed
magical practice of shape-shifting alternately between
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...
and human form, or the possession of combined canine and human anatomical features, a form of
therianthropy
Therianthropy may refer to:
* Human-animal shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest for ...
.
The Greeks spoke of cynanthropy (''kyon'', dog). The term existed by at least 1901, when it was applied to myths from China about humans turning into dogs, dogs becoming people, and sexual relations between humans and canines. After
lycanthropy
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
, cynanthropy is the best known term for a specific variety of therianthropy.
Anthropologist
David Gordon White
David Gordon White (born September 3, 1953) is an American Indologist and author on the history of yoga and tantra. He won the CHOICE book selection in religion, and an honorable mention in the PROSE book awards, both for ''Sinister Yogis''.
Ac ...
called Central Asia the "vortex of cynanthropy" because races of dog-men were habitually placed there by ancient writers. Hindu mythology puts races of "Dog Cookers" to the far north of India, the Chinese placed the "Dog Jung" and other human/canine barbarians to the extreme west, and European legends frequently put the dog men called Cynocephali in unmapped regions to the east. Some of these races were described as humans with dog heads, others as canine shapeshifters.
The weredog or cynanthrope is also known in
Timor
Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...
. It is described as a human/canine shapeshifter who is also capable of transforming other people into animals against their wills. These transformations are usually into prey animals such as goats, so that the cynanthrope can devour them without discovery of the crime.
[Rose, p. 390]
See also
*
Clinical lycanthropy
*
Coyote (Navajo mythology)
*
Cynocephaly
*
Kitsune
*
Otherkin
*
Shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...
*
Skin-walker
In Navajo culture, a skin-walker () is a type of harmful witch who has the ability to turn into, possess, or disguise themselves as an animal. The term is never used for healers.
The yee naaldlooshii, translating to "by means of it, it goes ...
*
Therianthropy
Therianthropy may refer to:
* Human-animal shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest for ...
*
Were
''Were'' and ''wer'' are archaism, archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures (, , , , , , ).
In Anglo-Saxon law ''wer'' was the value of a man's life. He ...
*
Werecat
A werecat (also written in a hyphenated form as were- cat) is an analog to "werewolf" for a feline therianthropic creature.
Etymology
Ailuranthropy comes from the Greek root words ''ailouros'' meaning "cat", and ''anthropos'', meaning "human" ...
*
Werehyena
*
Werejaguar
*
Wererat
*
Werewolf
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
References
{{Wiktionary
Therianthropy
Psychiatric diagnosis