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Greco-Roman mythology is full of many examples of shape-changing. If you look only at Zeus/Jupiter alone, there are countless examples of him changing himself or changing others. Did the Romans have a specific word in Latin that meant "one-who-changes-shapes" like we do with "shapeshifter", or did they express this in other ways?

While I've found examples describing the act, I couldn't find anything used to describe a person or god as a shapeshifter.

Joonas Ilmavirta
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Adam
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3 Answers3

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The word you want is versipellis.

In a story told by one of the guests at Trimalchio's dinner party in Petronius (Satyricon 62), it's used specifically to describe a werewolf, but it generally means 'One who can metamorphose himself into different shapes or forms' (OLD). It's also used of Jupiter in Plautus (Amphitryon 123).

cnread
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My suggestion is multiformis. While the dictionary entry doesn't seem have anything like a shapeshifter, this word would be well understood in proper context, with clear and familiar components.

I am not familiar with the Romans having a specific term like modern English does, so adapting other vocabulary for that purpose may well be the only route available.

Joonas Ilmavirta
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Versipellis is a good suggestion, but another, attested one is pluriformis:

plūrĭformis , e, adj. plures-forma,
I.having many forms, manifold, varied (postclass.): “pluriformi modo,” App. Flor. p. 341, 14; Mart. Cap. 7, § 729.

cmw
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