Dictionary Definition
dragon
Noun
1 a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually
represented as breathing fire and having a reptilian body and
sometimes wings [syn: firedrake]
2 a fiercely vigilant and unpleasant woman [syn:
tartar]
3 a faint constellation twisting around the north
celestial pole and lying between Ursa Major and Cepheus [syn:
Draco]
4 any of several small tropical Asian lizards
capable of gliding by spreading winglike membranes on each side of
the body [syn: flying
dragon, flying
lizard]
User Contributed Dictionary
commons Dragon
English
Etymology
From etyl fro dragon, from etyl la draco, from etyl grc sc=polytonic, probably from sc=polytonic, aorist active infinitive of sc=polytonic.Pronunciation
- , /ˈdrægən/, /"dr
Extensive Definition
The dragon is a mythical
creature of which some interpretation or depiction appears in
almost every culture worldwide. The physical description and
supposed abilities of the creature vary immensely according to the
different cultures in which it appears. However, the unifying
feature of almost all interpretations is it being a serpentine or otherwise
reptilian monster (or
at least possessing a serpentine/reptilian part or trait), and
often possessing magical or spiritual qualities.
The two most familiar
interpretations of dragons are either European
dragons, derived from various European folk traditions, or
unrelated Oriental
dragons, derived from the Chinese
dragon (lóng). The word "dragon" derives from Greek
δράκων (drakōn), "a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon" and
that from the verb δέρκομαι (derkomai) "to see
clearly".
Overview
Like most mythological creatures, dragons are perceived in different ways by different cultures. Dragons are sometimes said to breathe and spit fire or poison. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs and possessing typically feathered or scaly bodies. They are sometimes portrayed as having large yellow or red eyes, a feature that is the origin for the word for dragon in many cultures. They are sometimes portrayed with a row of dorsal spines, keeled scales, or leathery bat-like wings. Winged dragons are usually portrayed only in European dragons while Oriental versions of the dragon resemble large snakes. Dragons can have a variable number of legs: none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature. Modern depictions of dragons tend to be larger than their original representations, which were often smaller than humans.Although dragons occur in many
legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories
about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon
label.
Dragons are often held to have
major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures
around the world. In many East Asian
cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as
representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. They are associated
with wisdom—often said to be
wiser than humans—and longevity. They are commonly said
to possess some form of magic
or other supernatural power, and are often associated with wells,
rain, and rivers. In some cultures, they are also said to be
capable of human speech.
The term dragoon, for infantry that move
around by horse yet still
fight as foot soldiers, is derived from their early firearm, the "dragon", a
wide-bore musket that spat flame when it fired, and was thus named
for the mythical creature.
Jewish
In Jewish religious texts, the first mention of a dragon-like creature is in the Biblical works of Job (26:13), and Isaiah (27:1) where it is called Nachash Bare'ach, or a "Pole Serpent". This is identified in the Midrash Rabba to Genesis 1:21 as Leviathan from the word Taninim and God created the great sea-monsters.In Jewish astronomy this is
also identified with the North Pole,
the star Thuban which, around
4,500 years ago, was the star in the Draco
constellation's "tail". Hebrew writers from Arabic-speaking
locations identified the Teli as Al Jaz'har, which is a Persian
word for a "knot" or a "node" because of the intersection of the
inclination of the orbit of a planet from the elliptic that forms
two such nodes. In modern astronomy these are called the ascending
node and the descending
node, but in the
medieval astronomy they were referred to as "dragon's head" and
"dragon's tail".
Greek
In Ancient Greece the first mention of a dragon is derived from the Iliad where Agamemnon is described as having a blue dragon motif on his sword belt and a three-headed dragon emblem on his breast plate.Christian
In the biblical book the Revelation of John, Satan is portrayed as a dragon that can emit a flood of water from its mouth.Bible verse |Revelation|12:16|NIV. Dragons are also commonly a part of the legends of several early Christian Saints, most famously Saint George.Chinese
Chinese dragons (), and Oriental dragons generally, are usually seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent though there are exceptions (one exception being Y Ddraig Goch, The Red Dragon of Wales). Malevolent dragons also occur in the mythology of Persia (see Azhi Dahaka) and Russia, among other places.Dragons are particularly
popular in China and the 5-clawed dragon was a symbol of the
Chinese emperors, with the phoenix
or fenghuang the
symbol of the Chinese empress. Dragon costumes manipulated by
several people are a common sight at Chinese
festivals.
Persian
Aži Dahāka is the source of
the modern Persian word azhdahā or ezhdehā اژدها (Middle Persian
azdahāg) meaning "dragon", often used of a dragon depicted upon a
banner of war.
Modern Literature
There are numerous examples of dragons in modern literature, especially the fantasy genre.In the 1937 fantasy novel
The
Hobbit by J.R.R.
Tolkien, the major antagonist is a dragon named
Smaug. Smaug
hordes a great treasure but is ultimately defeated by a band of
dwarves, the "men of the lake" and a hobbit named Bilbo
Baggins.
Dragons play an important role
in the Harry Potter
series of novels by J. K.
Rowling. In the first book of the series,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid, the Hogwarts
grounds-keeper, owns a baby dragon of a species called "Norwegian
Ridgeback". In
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire one of the three events the
contestants for the tri-wizard tournament involves successfully
taking a Golden egg from a Dragon, in Harry's case "a Hungarian
Horntail". In the final book of the series,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry has to overcome a
blind dragon guarding the treasure in the vaults of the wizarding
bank, Gringots.
Dragonriders
of Pern is an extensive fantasy/science fiction series of
novels and short stories primarily written by Anne
McCaffrey. Since 2004, McCaffrey's son Todd McCaffrey has also
published Pern novels, both in collaboration with Anne and on his
own. The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing dragons who have a
telepathic bond with their riders, formed by mental impressions the
dragons receive at the time they hatch from their
eggs.
The concept of a dragon
bonding at birth with its rider was explored more recently in the
2003 fantasy novel and subsequent motion picture, Eragon, which
features a teen-aged boy by that name and a young dragon named
Saphira.
Eragon becomes a Dragon Rider, a magical dragon riding hero, who
helps to overthrow an evil and despotic king.
Speculation on the origin of dragons
Dragons may be mental representations of natural human fears of snakes, wildcats, birds of prey, as well as teeth, claws, size, and even venom blending with fear of wildfire.Others believe that the dragon
may have had a real counterpart from which the various legends
arose — typically dinosaurs or other archosaurs are mentioned as a
possibility — but there is no physical evidence to
support this claim, only alleged sightings collected by cryptozoologists. Loren
Coleman argues that monitor
lizards were the basis of some dragon tales and that the breath
of the dragon is the fantastic imagery of the steam from the warm
Montane Valley monitors emerging from a body of water into the cold
air of some Asian locations.
Dinosaur and mammalian fossils
were occasionally mistaken for the bones of dragons and other
mythological creatures — for example, a discovery in 300
BC in Wucheng, Sichuan, China, was labeled as
such by Chang
Qu.
Dragons in world mythology
References
Sources
- Angels and demons in art
- Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling
- Drury, Nevill, The Dictionary of the Esoteric, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2003 ISBN 8120819896
- Freedman, Rabbi Dr. H. (translation), Simon M., editor, Midrash Rabbah: Genesis, Volume one, The Soncino Press, London, 1983
Further reading
- Knight, Peter. "Sacred Dorset - On the Path of the Dragon", 1998.
- Dragons: a natural history
- A Book of Dragons
External links
dragon in Arabic: تنين
dragon in Aragonese: Dragón
dragon in Bosnian: Zmaj (mitologija)
dragon in Bulgarian: Дракон
dragon in Catalan: Drac
dragon in Czech: Drak
dragon in Tumbuka: Vereni
dragon in Welsh: Draig
dragon in Danish: Drage (fabeldyr)
dragon in German: Drache (Mythologie)
dragon in Modern Greek (1453-): Δράκοντας
dragon in Spanish: Dragón
dragon in Esperanto: Drako (mitologio)
dragon in Persian: اژدها
dragon in French: Dragon (mythologie)
dragon in Croatian: Zmaj
dragon in Indonesian: Naga
dragon in Icelandic: Dreki (goðsagnavera)
dragon in Italian: Drago
dragon in Hebrew: דרקון
dragon in Cornish: Dragon
dragon in Kurdish: Ejdiya
dragon in Latin: Draco
dragon in Latvian: Pūķis
dragon in Luxembourgish: Draach
(Mythologie)
dragon in Hungarian: Sárkány
dragon in Malay (macrolanguage): Naga
dragon in Dutch: Draak (fabeldier)
dragon in Japanese: ドラゴン
dragon in Norwegian: Drage
dragon in Narom: Dragon
dragon in Occitan (post 1500): Dragon
dragon in Oromo: Dragon
dragon in Polish: Smok
dragon in Portuguese: Dragão
dragon in Romanian: Dragon
dragon in Russian: Дракон
dragon in Scots: Draigon
dragon in Simple English: Dragon
dragon in Slovak: Drak
dragon in Serbo-Croatian: Zmaj
dragon in Finnish: Lohikäärme
dragon in Swedish: Drake
dragon in Tagalog: Dragon
dragon in Thai: มังกร
dragon in Vietnamese: Rồng
dragon in Turkish: Ejderha
dragon in Ukrainian: Змій
dragon in Contenese: 西洋龍
dragon in Chinese: 龙 (西方)
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Argus,
Briareus, Cerberus, Charybdis, Cyclops, Echidna, Gila monster, Gorgon, Harpy, Hydra, Loch Ness monster, Mafioso, Medusa, Minotaur, Pegasus, Python, Scylla, Sphinx, Talos, Tartar, Typhon, Young Turk, agama, alligator, anole, bear, bearded lizard, beast, beldam, berserk, berserker, blindworm, bomber, box turtle, brute, butterfly agama, cayman, centaur, chameleon, chimera, cockatrice, crank, crocodile, crosspatch, demon, devil, diamondback, drake, false map turtle, feist, fiend, fire-eater, firebrand, flying dragon,
fury, gavial, gecko, girdle-tailed lizard, glass
snake, goon, gorilla, green turtle, griffin, grizzly bear, grouch, gunsel, hardnose, hawksbill, hawksbill turtle,
hell-raiser, hellcat,
hellhound, hellion, hippocampus, holy terror,
hood, hoodlum, hothead, hotspur, iguana, incendiary, killer, leatherback, lizard, mad dog, madcap, matamata, mermaid, merman, monitor, monster, mugger, nixie, ogre, ogress, rapist, revolutionary, roc, salamander, satyr, savage, sea horse, sea serpent,
sea turtle, she-wolf, siren, soft-shelled turtle,
sorehead, spitfire, stump tail, teju, termagant, terrapin, terror, terrorist, tiger, tigress, tortoise, tough, tough guy, troll, tuatara, turtle, ugly customer, unicorn, vampire, violent, virago, vixen, werewolf, wild beast, windigo, witch, wolf, xiphopagus, zombie