dragone

Forms

dragone m (plural dragoni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dracōnem (“dragon, serpent”), from the Latin accusative, through an earlier Old Italian dracone; drago comes from the nominative.^[2][3][1] dracō is from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, dragon”).^[4][3] The DEI notes that the word passed into the Romance languages in semi-learned forms, and Zingarelli calls the word learned.^[5][6] Nocentini sees the shorter form as taken from the longer one when this was felt to be an augmentative.^[3]

The same Latin word is French dragon, Occitan dragó, Catalan tragó, Spanish dragón, Portuguese dragão, Sardinian dragòne and Romanian drac (“devil”).^[3][7] The Greek word is usually connected with δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to look”), for the dragon's fixed, paralysing gaze;^[4][3][5] DELI calls the etymology uncertain.^[4][3][5]

The sense of cavalry soldier is due to French dragon, recorded in French in the 16th century and probably named after the dragon on the standard; the Latin word already meant the standard of a cohort.^[4][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century, in the sense of the great mythical reptile.^[8] DELI dates dragone “dragon” to before 1292, in Bono Giamboni.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the dragon was a winged, fire-breathing reptile, and the word was also used of any large serpent or crocodile, of a monstrous creature, of the devil and of Lucifer.^[8] It named a figure in heraldry, the standard of the Roman cohorts, a streak of light in the sky, and in astronomy the capo and coda di dragone, the nodes of a planet's orbit.^[8] The Tesoro of Brunetto Latini calls it the greatest of all serpents, living in India and Ethiopia.^[9]

The military sense “dragoon” is recorded from 1630, in Arrigo Caterino Davila; the dragona, the sword knot, was at first worn by dragoons.^[4] In the 16th century a dragone was also a large-calibre gun, and later a rocket for setting off fireworks from a distance.^[2][10] Natural history gave the name to a venomous fish, the greater weever, and to the herb tarragon, more often called dragoncello.^[2][10]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – First record, in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[8]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses dragone.^[4]
• 1563 – Dragoncello is recorded as the name of a plant.^[4]
• 1630 – Davila uses dragone of a cavalry soldier.^[4]
• Before 1712 – Dragona, the sword knot, is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dragon, the fabulous monster, more often called drago; a symbol of the devil.^[2][11][10]
2. (historical, military) A dragoon, a soldier of a cavalry corps of the 17th and 18th centuries.^[2][11][12]
3. (historical) A large-calibre gun of the 16th century.^[2][11][10]
4. A rocket run along a wire to set off fireworks from a distance.^[2][11][10]
5. (zoology) The greater weever (Trachinus draco), the same as tracina; in Apulia, also certain stingrays.^[2][10][1]
6. (botany) Tarragon.^[2][12][10]
7. (astronomy) Draco, a constellation of the northern sky between the Great and Little Bear.^[10][13]
8. (history) The dragon standard of a Roman cohort.^[12][6]

Word family

• dragoncello
• dragonessa
• dragonaccio
• dragona

Related words

• drago
• dragontea
• Latin dracō
• French dragon

Usage notes

A separate word dragone, recorded in 1934, is a sailing boat for racing and pleasure, with a round hull, fixed keel and a crew of three; it is a borrowing of the English dragon (boat), and the sources trace the name to the Viking ship, Swedish drakar, probably named after the dragon carved on it.^{[2][4][3][14]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1391
6. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca