Etymologically
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dragon

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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
  • 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