In reading M.L. West's The East Face of Helicon, I noticed the translation of the Ancient Greek Λυσσα as 'wolf-fury' (p. 213-4), and he suggests that the term is an Indo-European motif of warriors adopting a bestial attitude during battle, likening them to Norse berserkers (providing numerous examples from other cultures in his Indo-European Poetry and Myth, p.450-1). Gregory Nagy similarly translates the word as 'wolfish rage' here.
While there is certainly a precedent for such a reading, given the numerous examples found in other literature, how do we know that Λυσσα is best translated as 'wolf-fury'? I cannot recall ever seeing a translation of the Iliad using such a translation, although I have not read every single translation ever.
Edit: For anyone interested, I have since read that Λυσσα was used by ancient Greeks to refer to rabies in dogs, such as in Xenophon's Anabasis, 5.7.26. Thus, heroes in the Iliad could be said to go 'rabid' in battle.
As Λυσσα is essential rabid-rage, what are the implications of this similie in regards to 'Indo-European' literature and culture?
'Wolf-fury' is an attempt to simultaneously capture (a) the meaning of the word as used, 'rage, fury', and (b) the etymology of the word, which may come from λύκος 'wolf'. West happens to like trying to include etymological information in his translations: he also does that with αἰγίοχος, which is customarily translated 'aegis-bearing', but West translates it as 'goat-riding', which is a possible etymology.
In practice, 'fury' or 'battle-fury' will do for all occurrences of the word λύσσα in Homer. Because that's how ancient writers consistently use the word.
To give an analogy, West's and Nagy's translation is like if someone were to translate the English word lord into another language as 'bread-guardian', on the grounds that lord comes from Old English hlāf-weard.
The etymology doesn't mean that every time someone uses the word lord, they're also thinking about bread.
In the case of αἰγίοχος, I'm actually sympathetic to West's translation, because there's a myth about Zeus riding a goat, and there's a parallel in another Indo-European pantheon for a sky god using goats for transport (Thor).
In the case of λύσσα, I'm not so keen, because no ancient writer ever invokes the connotation 'wolf'. Also, there's a competing etymology for λύσσα: it could come from λυκ- 'light', with a related expression in Pindar λευκαῖς φρασίν 'with white thoughts', translated by Hesychios as 'raging'. This is the etymology preferred by Specht and Pokorny; see Beekes, Etymological dictionary of Greek p. 880.