Re: Vampire

>It's most likely a loan from Latin (<strix, strigis> 'barn owl')

That's what the Romanian dictionary also says:
strigá ("to shout, yell, scream") < *strigare < strix, -gis.

>In Poland, a <strzyga> was a feminine blood-sucking or
>flesh-eating night demon, transforming herself into an owl
>to fly from place to place. An unbaptised baby who died could
>turn into one (especially if born with teeth). Strigas were
>eliminated like vampires -- by burning, or by driving stakes
>or blessed nails through their bodies. The masculine counterpart
><strzygon'> is to all practical purposes a synonym of the
>vampire.

As well as of Bram Stoker's tale character. (The Romanian
<strigoi, strigoiul> is quite similar in superstitions and
folklore; fem. <strigoaie, strigoaia>; and <strigoaicã,
strigoaice> -> also meaning "witch, hag, ugly old woman, old
frump," i.e. kinda... Baba Yaga.)

>Piotr

George