dragon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdræɡ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dragun, dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon and directly from Latin dracō (“huge serpent, dragon”), accusative dracōnem,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, giant seafish”),^[2][3][5] apparently from drak-, the strong aorist stem of δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see clearly”),^[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *derk- (“to see”).^[2] It may have meant “the one with the deadly glance”.^[2][3] It is related to drake “dragon” and dragoon.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A huge serpent or snake: about 1220 in the OED.^[7][6] The mythical monster, usually winged and breathing fire, is from before 1225 in the OED, about 1250 in Barnhart.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

In early texts it can be hard to tell the real large snake, known then only from report, from the mythical monster.^[6] Before dragon, the English word for the monster was drake or firedrake, from the Germanic form of Latin dracō.^[6][2] In the Bible it translated Hebrew tannin “sea monster”.^[2][7] Satan was called the dragon from 1340,^[7] and a fierce or fiendish person from 1508.^[7] Dragonfly is from 1626, in Francis Bacon.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – a huge serpent.^[7]
• a. 1225 – the mythical monster.^[7]
• 1340 – Satan.^[7]
• 1508 – a fierce person.^[7]
• 1626 – dragonfly.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A mythical monster like a huge reptile, with wings and claws, often breathing fire.
2. (informal) A fierce or strict person, especially a woman.
3. A large lizard, such as the Komodo dragon.

Word family

• dragonish
• dragonlike

Related words

• draco
• draconic
• dragonet
• dragoon
• drake
• dragonfly

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press