drago

Forms

drago m (plural draghi)^[1] The old and literary form Old Italian draco is used by Dante.^[2][3][4] Old northern forms include Old Italian drag and Old Italian dragu.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin draco (“dragon, serpent”), from the Latin nominative, while dragone continues the accusative.^[6][7][8][1] Nocentini sees it instead as a form taken from the longer word, which was felt to be an augmentative.^[9] Devoto explains the -g- as northern voicing.^[10]

The Latin word was taken early from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, dragon”) and fitted into the Latin nouns in -ō, -ōnis.^[10][11][1] The Greek word is of uncertain origin;^{[6][9][8][12]} DELI, Nocentini and Sabatini connect it with δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to look”), after the dragon's paralysing gaze.^{[6][9][8][12]}

The Latin accusative lives on across Romance: French dragon, Occitan dragó, Catalan tragó, Spanish dragón, Portuguese dragão and Sardinian dragòne, with Romanian drac from the nominative.^[9][13][14] In southern French dialects drac means “devil”.^[13] The Latin word was also borrowed into Old High German trahho, whence German Drache, and into Welsh draig.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Splanamento of Patecchio, in Cremonese, and DELI's in the Sconfitta di Monte Aperto, on the battle of 1260.^[5][6] The sense is the fabulous creature, a huge winged reptile that breathes fire.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the dragon was also simply the largest of reptiles, a term of comparison for a wicked person, and one of the shapes of the devil;^[5] drago marino named the weever fish, and heraldry had the dragon as a winged chimera.^[5] Dante has a draco with open wings in the Inferno and a drago rising from the earth in the Purgatorio.^[2][15]

Drago volante “flying dragon” became a name for the kite and for a small gliding lizard of south-east Asia, the genus Draco.^[4][16][15] During the First World War pallone drago translated German Drachenballon for the tethered observation balloon.^[17][3]

In 20th-century slang drago became a clever, capable person, someone who excels at something: a song by Simonetta has lo chiamavan Drago of a man from the Giambellino.^[15][7][18]

Timeline

• 13th century – Patecchio of Cremona uses the word.^[5]
• 13th century – The Sconfitta di Monte Aperto has drago “dragon”.^[6]
• 1282 – The date Zingarelli gives for the first record.^[4]
• 1300–1321 – Dante uses both draco and drago.^[2]
• 1563 – Dragoncello “tarragon” is recorded in Mattioli.^[6]
• 1916–1918 – Pallone drago is used for the German Drachenballon.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. dragon: a fabulous monster, usually a huge winged reptile that breathes fire: san Giorgio uccide il drago.^[7][18][8]
2. (colloquial, figurative) An ace, a person very skilled at something: a scacchi è un drago.^[7][18][3]
3. (figurative, uncommon) An impetuous, violent person.^[3][1]
4. (dated) A kite, also drago volante.^[7][18][4]
5. (heraldry) A winged chimera with open jaws and the feet of an eagle or a lion.^[7][16]
6. (zoology) A flying dragon, a gliding lizard of the genus Draco of the Agamidae.^[7][18][8]

Word family

• draghetto

Related words

• dragone
• dragoncello
• dragonessa
• dragona
• Latin draco

Usage notes

Drago and dragone are synonyms for the fabulous animal.^[8][4] Sangue di drago, dragon's blood, is the resin of a palm, recorded in Italian from 1563.^[17][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
13. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1390
18. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier