Now I just remembered that little something I had been wanting to add
to the "varg" discussion:
There is a place in Iceland called "Mývatn", meaning "Midget Lake"
(where by "midget" I mean "small mosquito"). It happens that this
place, which is a popular tourist destination, is the birth-place of
my mother, and the one part of the countryside I've spent most time
in. There's a lot of flies living in and around this lake, which is
how it got its name. The flies can be very irritating for people not
used to them. The significant thing is, the locals always refer to
the flies, as a whole, as "vargurinn" ("the warg").
"Vargur" (from ON "vargr") in MI hardly has the "wolf" meaning
anymore (as there are no wolves here), but still retains the old
connotation; however, it is hardly used as a label for humans
anymore, having more the meaning of "pest", "troublesome animal".
This must be linked to the earlier applying of the word to wolves.
One could still, though, use "vargur" as a description of a person,
but that would be a strongly negative (or humorous) description of
that person's behaviour.