dragão

Forms

dragão m (plural dragões, feminine dragoa, feminine plural dragoas)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote dragon (plural dragões); Houaiss also records adragom and drago in the 14th century and draguões in the 15th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dracō (“dragon, serpent”), written Old Galician-Portuguese dragon in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss and Wiktionary derive it from the oblique stem of the Latin noun (the accusative and genitive), while the nominative gave the doublet drago.^[2][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “dragon, serpent”).^[2][4]

The same Latin word is Galician dragón, Spanish dragón, Catalan dragó, Occitan dragon, French dragon, Italian dragone and Romanian drac.^[5][1] Corominas dates the Spanish word to the end of the 13th century.^[6][7]

Beekes traces the Greek noun to the root of δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to look at”), from Proto-Indo-European *drḱ- (“to look at”), the dragon being named for its gaze.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have the word in the 13th century: cantiga 85 tells of a vale chẽo de dragões / e d'outros diabos “full of dragons and other devils”, and cantiga 189 of a man who met a dragon (un dragon) on the road and killed it.^[9] Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the cantigas the dragon is already the devil, the serpent whose head the new Adam crushes.^[9] Pereira (1697) gives dragão or drago for Latin draco.^[10] Morais (1813) records the figurative “ugly, ill-tempered person”, the dragão infernal “the devil”, the dragoons (mounted troops who fought on foot), a white spot in a horse's eye, and the constellation.^[11] Nascentes explains the soldier's name from dragão in the sense of “standard, ensign”, and the name of the gliding lizards of the genus Draco from a comparison with the monster.^[12]

Houaiss adds the Brazilian informal senses “receiver of stolen goods” and “very ugly person”, and a regional Portuguese “strong, muscular man”.^[2] Wiktionary records the informal Portuguese name for a supporter of FC Porto.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – dragões and dragon in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9][2]
• 14th century – the spellings adragom and drago.^[2][3]
• c. 1430 – drago in the Horto do Esposo.^[13]
• 1611 – Barbosa heads the word Drago, ou Dragão.^[14]
• 1697 – Pereira lists Dragão, ou drago.^[10]
• 1813 – Morais records the dragoons and the figurative ill-tempered person.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dragon, a fabulous monster pictured as a scaly serpent or lizard, often with claws and wings, breathing fire.^[2][15][1]
2. (heraldry) An emblem or device showing a dragon;^[2][1] (history) the standard of a Roman cohort.^[2][1]
3. (military, history) A dragoon, a cavalry soldier who could fight on foot.^[2][1]
4. (religion) The devil, as a symbol of evil: o dragão do Apocalipse.^[2][15]
5. (figurative, derogatory) A person of bad character or harsh temper.^[2][11]
6. (Brazil, informal) A fence, a receiver of stolen goods; also a very ugly person.^[2][15][1]
7. (Portugal, regional) A strong, muscular man.^[2]
8. (Portugal, football, informal) A supporter of FC Porto.^[1]
9. (astronomy, with a capital) The constellation Draco.^[2][1]
10. (zoology) A small Asian gliding lizard of the genus Draco; also an American goby fish and, in southern Brazil, a dark songbird with a yellow belly.^[2][15]

Word family

• dragãozinho
• dragão-marinho
• dragonete

Related words

• draco
• drago
• dracónico
• Latin dracō
• Spanish dragón

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. dragão
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. dragão
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dracō
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dragón
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 521
8. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. δράκων
9. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. dragon
10. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. dragão
11. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 642
12. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. dragão
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. drago
14. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. drago
15. ^ a b c d Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. dragão