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A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. Commonalities between dragons' traits are often a hybridization of reptilian, mammalian, and avian features.

Etymology

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".[2][3] The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological.[4] The Greek word δράκων is most likely derived from the Greek verb δέρκομαι (dérkomai) meaning "I see", the aorist form of which is ἔδρακον (édrakon).[3] This is thought to have referred to something with a "deadly glance",[5] or unusually bright[6] or "sharp"[7][8] eyes, or because a snake's eyes appear to be always open; each eye actually sees through a big transparent scale in its eyelids, which are permanently shut. The Greek word probably derives from an Indo-European base *derḱ- meaning "to see"; the Sanskrit root दृश् (dr̥ś-) also means "to see".[9]

Overview

Several bones purported to belong to the Wawel Dragon hang outside Wawel Cathedral, but actually belong to a Pleistocene mammal.
Draconic creatures appear in virtually all cultures around the globe,[10] and the earliest attested reports of draconic creatures resemble giant snakes. Draconic creatures are first described in the mythologies of the ancient Near East and appear in ancient Mesopotamian art and literature. Stories about storm gods slaying giant serpents occur throughout nearly all Near Eastern and Indo-European mythologies. Famous prototypical draconic creatures include the mušḫuššu of ancient Mesopotamia; Apep in Egyptian mythology; Vṛtra in the Rigveda; the Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible; Grand'Goule in the Poitou region in France; Python, Ladon, wyvern and the Lernaean Hydra in Greek mythology; Kulshedra in Albanian mythology; Unhcegila in Lakota mythology; Quetzalcoatl in Aztec culture; Jörmungandr, Níðhöggr, and Fafnir in Norse mythology; the dragon from Beowulf; and aži and az in ancient Persian mythology, closely related to another mythological figure, called Aži Dahaka or Zahhak.

Nonetheless, scholars dispute where the idea of a dragon originates from,[11] and a wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed.[11]

In his book An Instinct for Dragons (2000), anthropologist David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans, like monkeys, have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, large cats, and birds of prey.[12] He cites a study which found that approximately 39 people in a hundred are afraid of snakes[13] and notes that fear of snakes is especially prominent in children, even in areas where snakes are rare.[13] The earliest attested dragons all resemble snakes or have snakelike attributes.[14] Jones therefore concludes that dragons appear in nearly all cultures because humans have an innate fear of snakes and other animals that were major predators of humans' primate ancestors.[15] Dragons are usually said to reside in "dark caves, deep pools, wild mountain reaches, sea bottoms, haunted forests", all places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors.[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon