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I need some help... What is the difference between a vampyre and a vampire? (besides the spelling)

Then my friend also told me that a vamp is a female who sexually attracts something or other, i can't really remember

I should know this, but I have inherited the memory of a sieve from my father's side of the family

A vamp is a term that was co opted (I believe originally in the 30's) to imply someone (usually a woman) who uses men sexually and throws them away. Probably created due to some puritanical / patriarchal reaction during the jazz age of more liberated women exercising more choice over who they slept with, whether or not they got married and how many lovers they had.

Vamp the movie with Grace Jones tried to play off the combination of the term by having a vamp (femme fatale) also literally be a vamp (vampire).

Does anyone know the different origins to the spellings using a y or I.
Thus Vampire or Vampyres... the later I had not seen until recently ..

I think there are some folks who are trying to adopt vampyre for modern living vampyres and leave vampire for fiction and folklore. Obviously, the distinction has been lost on most and we look at the two spellings as merely two choices for any number of definitions.

John Polidari (who was influenced by Lord Byron and was present at many of the getaways with Byron and the Shelleys) called his novel The Vampyre in the early 1800's. That may in fact be the first use of that spelling in literature. So one can see that even long ago, the use of both spellings was more a choice of taste than accuracy or variation of definition.

I always thought vampires spelled with a y is the old century spelling

Old country would be vampir in Hungary or German. There's a chance that vampyre was a French translation but I don't know of an older literary usage than Polidari.

suppossedly, vampyre is european, vampire is the americian spelling.

Again, i too thought that perhaps this was an early translation but if it was, it's not anymore. Almost all European languages translate vampire to vampire or vampiro. French is now vampire and german is now vampire and dutch is vampire and italian is vampire. No "y" or other such change.

I see this spelling with a 'y' as more of a result of the popularisation by the Online Vampire Community, in order to distinguish themselves from the fictional representation.

Agreed. Much in the same way that 'magic' was changed to 'majik' or 'magik' or 'magyk' or any of the other numerous spellings to try and separate it from the art of illusion (magic). And of course there is the 'cool' factor, wherein people change the spelling of something to make it look weird and gain a sense of outsider feel to it by using lots of x's, ph's, y's and other widely unused letters and letter combinations.

I always thought Vampyre was a older spelling .

quite the opposite I thought, imhotep. vampyre came about to distinguish modern vampires from the hollywood vampire.

lots of mixed responses here

As far as I have been able to tell the word 'vampire' first appeared in 1725 in government reports about Peter Plogojowitz returning from his grave in the Vojvodina region of Serbia - of course the word had probably been around before that (as a derivation of the 'vampir' but that's the earliest proper document that I have been able to find. with vampire in it

The word 'vampyre' was first used in 1732 in documents about Arnold Paole from Medvegia, Serbia who was bitten by a 'vampyre' and then went on to do really odd things with cattle.

So if we ignore 'upir' and all the build ups to the word vampir - we have vampire first and vampyre a close second - both from Serbia

Although I am looking at the use of the word 'vampire ' to describe the actual bat - as this might lead me to find an earlier reference to blood drinking critters

I think, but i might be wrong, as others have said - the word 'vampyre' has been now adopted by the modern folk who live a vampiric lifestyle in an attempt to separate themselves from the 'vampire' of folklore, myth, legend and hollywood

Nice work on that Artemka...

Quite a bit of digging I imagine.

vampire are beings that were created in the mid 30's with dracula and things like that
vampyre are actuall creatures that live on the life force of other people
it could be their energy or their blood
but those are the true ones

I always under the impression is was a geographical spelling

you say "potatoe" I say "potato" let's call the whole thing off

I feel it is just the different spelling of different countries and if you research you will find many different spellings and meanings on this just my opinion.

A vamp is a seductive woman who exploits men by use of her sexual charms. I think 'vampyre' is the old term for vampire. Well, that's what Wikipedia said last time I checked.

VampYre is the older spelling of the same word vampIre that is commonly used today. It was used in centuries past when there were no rules for standardization of spelling. (you should see some one those old texts from 300+ years ago--terrible spelling) And yes, "vamp" was a term for a seductive woman that came into popular usage in the early yo mid 20th c.

That said, the modern usage among the community seems to be much like the distinction between magic (stage tricks and slight of hand) and magick (spells, rituals, and manipulation of reality). In current common usage the spelling with the Y has been brought back into use to distinguish those living vampyres from the movie Dracula version of the undead. It's all just a matter of preference and affectation of course, but when were people in these circles without their pretence and image? (me included) Generally only someone who is really picky will fault anyone for using the incorrect spelling. And in common modern usage, "vamp" is now short for either spelling of the longer vampire/vampyre. The same way wey use other abrieviations, because it's easier.

Now, just wait until someone brings up the difference in whether or not you capitalize those key words.... *heh*

hum I know Vamp is a woman who usually who uses man for sex or other self gain or is consider dangerously attractive, as for vampyer and vampire......I am un aware of any difference only the spelling though I could well be wrong

Emeleth can you cite your references please ?

I find the two words in use but the other way around (vampire seven years earlier than vampyre), I've obviously missed something somewhere and need to be pointed towards an earlier source to the ones that I have been using.

What are your sources ?

I do agree (and said so earlier) that the lack of rules for early spelling has got to be partially to blame. I can think immediately of how tired was often spelled tyred as an example of the time before standardization. As to whether one came before the other...Artemka has done some solid research with examples to back up his findings.

I dont think their is a diffrence between the two, i think they are the same thing just spelled two diffrent...

I agree...we're talking about 'scribes' or officials who had complete control over how a record was written down. Even content could be subject to change but especially spelling.

This definitely isn't based on Geography. Both spellings of vampire were used in the 'old country' of Serbia (thanks Artemka for the info). I think if we take the problem of early non standardized spelling and combine it with the examples put forth by Artemka, we can conclude that vampir and upir were probably the early parent words and that through simply the use of different writers for different documented cases the spelling changed. So we have Plogojowitz referred to as a vampire and Paole just 5 years later referred to as a vampyre both in Serbia and both in government reports.

Thank you Felix :)

It is definitely the non-standard spelling, remembering the literacy in those days - they may well write as they hear. So you would also get vampyr and vampir too (yes they've been used)

I don't think it would be a country thing, if you venture too far over towards France you would have to drop the 'e' for masculine critters - and they simply don't

Of course if anyone can point me to any books or educational websites (not the free hobby sites please), I'm really getting itchy to research something

Felix: Wouldn't that essentially be called a black widow?

I don't really think there is any difference at all. It's just a variation of spelling. Why would there be variations? People get bored.

I most humbly appologise. My sources are the socio-anthropological research notes of many years of study by a professor I know. But he does not claim to be Kindred, therefore he may be entirely mistaken. I appologize for not having listed such items as I only discussed it in conversation and did not look into the particular bibliography at the time. I must bow to the position, knowledge, and authority of those with Rank.

In my opinion, its a y or an i. Thats it... with opinions being so blurred already, does it matter what they could stand for? It;s your won definition that counts.

Vampire Vam"pire, n. [F. vampire (cf. It. vampiro, G. & D.
vampir), fr. Servian vampir.] [Written also vampyre.]
1. A blood-sucking ghost; a soul of a dead person
superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander
about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, thus
causing their death. This superstition was once prevalent
in parts of Eastern Europe, and was especially current in
Hungary about the year 1730. The vampire was often said to
have the ability to transform itself into the form of a
bat, as presented in the novel depicting the legend of
Dracula published by Bram Stoker in 1897, which has
inspired several movies.




Vampire Vam"pire, n. [F. vampire (cf. It. vampiro, G. & D.
vampir), fr. Servian vampir.] [Written also vampyre.]
1. A blood-sucking ghost; a soul of a dead person
superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander
about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, thus
causing their death. This superstition was once prevalent
in parts of Eastern Europe, and was especially current in
Hungary about the year 1730. The vampire was often said to
have the ability to transform itself into the form of a
bat, as presented in the novel depicting the legend of
Dracula published by Bram Stoker in 1897, which has
inspired several movies.
[1913 Webster + PJC]



i hope that helps.........looks like the same thing different spelling to me

The Sanguinarium started using the vampyre spelling to distinguish between the fictional vampire and the living vampyre. This was on line terminology as well as being used in the Halo of Gothom (New York City) and Los Angeles in the club scene. Within the last year the Sanguinarium, and the StregoiVii (a Vampyre initiatiory religious group) started the practice of capitalizing the V as a further distinction.
There is of course the above mentioned variations in the history of the spelling, but what I have written is another explanation for the current variation. Those who are involved in the Sanguinarium have been instructed to use the proper form when referring to themselves and to others of their kind. It is used also by the Khepherians (psy Vampyres) who are not of the Sanguinarium, but closely related.
Emeleth, you got it.

Wow, I thought the difference between the two words was just the way people today spelled it to be different.

I have to thank FelixFelix and Artemka for their great anologies (sp) on the words and their meanigns.

This thread was very informative.

Dark Greetings...

I must agree, we use the term "vampyres" to refer to a real phenomenon involving real people. We use "vampire" to refer to imaginary mythical creatures who mainly inhabit horror movies and other works of imaginative fiction. This notation is used by some in the vampyre/vampire community, but its use is far from a consensus. In fact, some use the opposite definition; still others use both terms to refer to both types of vampires/vampyres.

but it all depends...

Lord Markus