{{Short description|Russian legendary creature}} [[File:Ernst Stöhr, Vampir, 1899.png|thumb|''Vampir'' by Ernst Stöhr, 1899]]
'''Vourdalak''', also spelled '''wurdalak''', '''verdilak''', '''vurdulak''' or '''vurdalak''' ({{langx|ru|вурдалак}}), is a kind of vampire originating in Russian literature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=Francis |title=Russian "vurdalak" 'vampire' and Related Forms in Slavic |journal=Journal of Slavic Linguistics |date=2005 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=237–250 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24599657 |issn=1068-2090}}</ref> Some Western sources define it as a type of "Russian vampire" that must consume the blood of its loved ones and convert its whole family.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bennett |first=Adelaide |date=2015 |title=Global Legends and Lore: Vampires and Werewolves Around the World |publisher=Mason Crest }}</ref> This notion is based apparently on Alexey K. Tolstoy's novella ''The Family of the Vourdalak'', telling the story of one such Slavic family.
In Russia, the common name for vampire is {{lang|ru-Latn|upyr}} ({{langx|ru|упырь}}). Nowadays, the {{lang|ru-Latn|upyr}} and vourdalak are regarded as synonymous, but in the 19th century they were seen as separate but similar entities. The Russian {{lang|ru-Latn|upyr}} was said to be a former witch, werewolf or a particularly nasty sinner who had been excommunicated from the church. In Ukraine, the {{lang|ru-Latn|upyri}} were also feared as the vampires who could bring about droughts and epidemics.<ref name="lev">{{cite book |last=Levkiyevskaya |first=E. |chapter-url=http://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/myt/hsr/uss/kih/6.htm#34 |script-chapter=ru:Упырь |trans-title=Russian Myths |script-title=ru:Мифы русского народа |title=Mify russkogo naroda |publisher=Астрель, Аст |isbn=5-271-00676-X }}</ref>
In the Russian language, the word {{Lang|ru-Latn|vourdalak}} first appeared in the early 19th century, and became common due to Alexander Pushkin's 1836 poem of the same name, part of the ''Songs of the Western Slavs'' cycle. It is the corrupt form of the West Slavic word {{lang|sla-Latn|volkodlak}} ({{langx|ru|волкодлак}}), meaning literally 'wolf-fur' or 'wolf-hide', denoting someone "wearing" a wolf's skin, a werewolf.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slovopedia.com/25/194/1649231.html |publisher=Slovopedia |title=Krylov's Russian Etymological dictionary }}</ref> Other sources suggest that Pushkin borrowed and adapted the word from Lord Byron's "The Giaour", which contains a footnote claiming that the Greek word for a vampire is "Vardoulacha". This in itself is a corruption of ''vrykolakas'', which does come from the Slavic ''vukodlak''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Butler |first=Francis |date=2005 |title=Russian "vurdalak" 'vampire' and Related Forms in Slavic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24599657 |journal=Journal of Slavic Linguistics |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=237–250 |issn=1068-2090}}</ref>
== In popular culture == Wurdalaks are mentioned and appear in the 2012 horror film ''Werewolf: The Beast Among Us''.
In 2023, Sam J. Miller's short story "If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak", published in ''The Dark'',<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/if-someone-you-love-has-become-a-vurdalak/ |title=If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak |first=Sam J. |last=Miller |author-link=Sam J. Miller |work=The Dark |date=July 2023 |access-date=8 March 2024 }}</ref> was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bookriot.com/here-are-the-2024-bram-stoker-award-finalists/ |title=Here Are The 2024 Bram Stoker Award Finalists |work=Book Riot |date=22 February 2024 |access-date=8 March 2024 }}</ref> The 2023 French horror-drama film ''The Vourdalak'' also centres on them.
The wurdulac also appears in the horror film ''Black Sabbath'': "The Wurdulak", which is an adaptation of Tolstoy's ''The Family of the Vourdalak''.
==See also== * {{slink|Vampires in popular culture|Vourdalak (or wurdalak)}} * Pricolici, a Romanian vampire with werewolf-like attributes
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Europe-myth-stub}}
Category:Corporeal undead Category:Vampires in written fiction Category:Slavic folklore