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An early appearance of the Old English word dracan (oblique singular of draca) in Beowulf [1]. The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which, in turn, comes from Latin draco (genitive draconis), meaning "huge serpent, dragon", from Ancient Greek δράκων, drákōn (genitive δράκοντος, drákontos) "serpent".
The word dragon derives from the Greek δράκων (drakōn) and its Latin cognate draco.Ancient Greeks applied the term to large, constricting snakes. [2] The Greek drakōn was far more associated with poisonous spit or breath than the modern Western dragon, though fiery breath is still attested in a few myths.
Dragon of Hayk: Symbol of Hayk Nahapet and Haykaznuni dynasty in Armenia. Usually depicted as seven-headed serpent. Levantine dragons Yam: The god of the sea in the Canaanite pantheon from Levantine mythology. Lotan: A demonic dragon reigning the waters, a servant of the sea god Yam defeated by the storm god Hadad-Baʿal in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle.
The medieval dragon is depicted as an evil, hideous monster always associated with evil. In Latin, draco means both dragon and serpent; the dragon is linked to the serpent and in particular to the tempter of Genesis, who drove Adam and Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. [5] Medieval encyclopedias therefore classify it as a serpent. [6]
The European dragon is a legendary creature in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.. The Roman poet Virgil in his poem Culex lines 163–201, [1] describing a shepherd battling a big constricting snake, calls it "serpens" and also "draco", showing that in his time the two words probably could mean the same thing.
The ouroboros or uroboros (/ ˌ j ʊər ə ˈ b ɒr ə s /; [2] / ˌ ʊər ə ˈ b ɒr ə s / [3]) is an ancient symbol depicting a snake or dragon [4] eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. It was adopted as a symbol in Gnosticism and Hermeticism and most ...
The Chinese dragon has very different connotations from the European dragon – in European cultures, the dragon is a fire-breathing creature with aggressive connotations, whereas the Chinese dragon is a spiritual and cultural symbol that represents prosperity and good luck, as well as a rain deity that fosters harmony.
Karl Kerenyi notes that the older tales mentioned two dragons who were perhaps intentionally conflated. [13] A female dragon named Delphyne (Δελφύνη; cf. δελφύς, "womb"), [14] and a male serpent Typhon (Τυφῶν; from τύφειν, "to smoke"), the adversary of Zeus in the Titanomachy, who the narrators confused with Python.