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Language Matters | Year of the Dragon: origins of the mythical beast’s name and imagery, from a fiery beast to an Asian symbol of strength
- The word ‘dragon’ has roots in Proto Indo European, with associations along the way including ‘to see clearly’ and ‘serpent’ or ‘giant seafish’
- Asian dragons symbolise spirituality, power, nobility, rain, good fortune – in contrast with aggressive fire-breathing Western monsters
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The English word “dragon” was borrowed from French dragon – a mythical monster, traditionally represented as a gigantic clawed, scaly skinned, winged reptile, sometimes breathing out fire.
This derived from Latin dracōnem (with nominative form draco), which referred to a huge serpent or dragon, from Greek δράκων, drakon, for “serpent, giant seafish”. This came from ancient Greek drak-, the strong stem (indicating a past action without end) of the verb δέρκεσθαι, derkesthai, meaning “to see clearly”, with roots in Proto Indo European *derk “to see”.
Drakon was thus the one with a clear, piercing look.
In East Asian mythologies, dragons are portrayed as long serpentine creatures, with four legs but no wings – though most are capable of flight.
Dragon-like motifs and statues were found in Neolithic China, and depictions of dragons on artefacts are noted in the earliest ruling Shang and Zhou dynasties.
The Chinese pictogram for dragon – lùhng in Cantonese, lóng in Mandarin – originally portrayed a serpent with prominent whiskered or fanged mouth, eyes, crown, legs, and tail. The word has origins in Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-bru(ŋ/k, meaning not only “dragon” but also, onomatopoeically, “thunder”.
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