Fantasy and fiction
Dragon Names in Myth and Literature
At a glance
The English word dragon comes, through Latin draco, from Greek drakōn, which meant a dragon or a large serpent. Old English had draca and wyrm, and the dragon in Beowulf is called both but is never given a personal name. Named dragons from myth include Fáfnir and Níðhöggr in Norse tradition and Ladon and Python in Greek, though the meanings of several of these names are disputed. Tolkien said Smaug was a joke on an old Germanic verb meaning 'to squeeze through a hole'.
- dragon
- Greek drakōn, via Latin draco and Old French
- wyrm, worm
- Old English wyrm, 'serpent, reptile, worm', also used of dragons
- Norse words
- ormr 'serpent' (also dragons); the world serpent Jörmungandr
- Chinese
- lóng (龍), a separate word with its own history
Real dragon names and dragon words
| Name | Meaning or origin | Status |
|---|---|---|
| drakōn (δράκων) Ancient Greek | 'Dragon, serpent'. Traditionally linked to derkomai 'to see', as 'the one who stares', but this is not certain. [2] | Uncertain |
| draca Old English | 'Dragon', borrowed from Latin draco. Used of the Beowulf dragon. [6] | Recorded |
| wyrm Old English | 'Serpent, reptile, worm', and in poetry a dragon. Beowulf's dragon is se wyrm. [4] | Recorded |
| Fáfnir Old Norse | The dragon killed by Sigurd. One proposed meaning is 'embracer', but the etymology is debated. [9] | Uncertain |
| Níðhöggr (Nidhogg) Old Norse | Serpent that gnaws at the world-tree in Völuspá. Usually read as níð 'hatred, shame' + höggr 'striker'. [11] | Uncertain |
| Jörmungandr Old Norse | The world serpent. jörmun- 'huge' + gandr, a word whose exact sense is unclear ('monster', 'staff', something magic). [13] | Uncertain |
| Ladon Ancient Greek | Serpent guarding the golden apples, named by Apollonius of Rhodes. Also a river name; its meaning is uncertain. [16] | Uncertain |
| Python Ancient Greek | The serpent of Delphi (Pytho). The Homeric Hymn explains the place name from a word for 'rot'; that is a story, not proven etymology. [18] | Uncertain |
| Y Ddraig Goch Welsh | 'The Red Dragon'. draig is from Latin draco; the red dragon of the Britons appears in the Historia Brittonum. [20] | Recorded |
| Lambton Worm English (County Durham legend) | A dragon-like 'worm' of local legend, set to song in 1867. [21] | Recorded |
| Smaug Tolkien, The Hobbit | Tolkien's joke on the past tense of Germanic smugan 'to squeeze through a hole'. [22] | Recorded |
| lóng (龍) Chinese | The Chinese dragon. Unrelated to drakōn; a link to an old Sino-Tibetan word for dragon or thunder has been proposed. [23] | Uncertain |
| Ormr Old Norse | 'Snake, serpent', also used of dragons; the same word as English worm. [7] | Recorded |
- Uncertain The origin or meaning is disputed or unproven.
- Recorded Found in historical records.
Dragon, drake and wyrm
English dragon came from Old French, from Latin draco, from Greek drakōn. In Greek the word covered both dragons and large serpents.[1][2] It is traditionally linked to the verb derkomai, 'to see', giving 'the one who stares' or 'sharp-sighted', but that is an old explanation rather than a settled fact.[2]
Old English borrowed the Latin word as draca, and the dragon in Beowulf is called a draca, a līg-draca ('flame-dragon') and a fȳr-draca ('fire-dragon').[3][6] More often, though, Old English used its own word, wyrm: a serpent, a reptile, a creeping insect, or, in poetry, a dragon.[4] Modern worm is the same word, and the spelling wyrm is a learned revival used in fantasy for a huge, limbless dragon.[5] Old Norse had the matching word ormr, used for snakes and dragons alike.[7]
The Beowulf dragon has no personal name. The poem calls it by these common nouns instead.[6]
Norse dragons and serpents
Fáfnir is the dragon killed by Sigurd in the Völsung legend. In the story he begins as the son of Hreiðmarr and becomes a dragon.[8] One proposed etymology links the name to a verb meaning 'to embrace', but this is a specialist argument, so treat the meaning as uncertain.[9]
Níðhöggr appears in the poem Völuspá as a serpent that gnaws the roots of the world-tree and torments the dead. The name is usually read as níð, 'hatred, shame', plus höggr, 'striker, hewer'.[10][11]
Jörmungandr is the world serpent that coils around the world in the depths of the sea.[14] Cleasby and Vigfusson explain jörmun- as a prefix meaning huge or superhuman. The second part, gandr, is harder: the dictionary itself calls its exact sense 'somewhat dubious', and it has been read as a magic object, a monster, a wolf, a broom or a staff.[12][13][14]
Greek, Welsh and English dragons
In Hesiod's Theogony a fearful serpent guards the golden apples, but it is not named there. Later writers, including Apollonius of Rhodes, call it Ladon.[15][16] Ladon is also the name of a river in Arcadia, and the meaning of the name is not known for certain.[17]
At Delphi, the Homeric Hymn to Apollo tells how Apollo killed a she-dragon and the sun made her rot. The hymn says this is why the place is called Pytho and Apollo is called Pythian. The monster later became known as Python. The 'rot' story is the poem's own explanation, not a modern etymology.[15][18]
The red dragon of Wales goes back to the Historia Brittonum, a ninth-century Latin history. In it, two serpents fight under Vortigern's fort, and the boy Ambrose explains that the red one is the dragon of the Britons and the white one the dragon of the Saxons.[19] In Welsh it is Y Ddraig Goch, 'the Red Dragon'; draig comes from Latin draco.[20]
The Lambton Worm is a County Durham legend about a monstrous worm. The University of Sunderland notes that worm here is the old word for a dragon, and that C. M. Leumane set the story to music in 1867.[21]
Smaug and the Chinese lóng
Tolkien explained Smaug in a 1938 letter to The Observer. He said the name was the past tense of a primitive Germanic verb smugan, 'to squeeze through a hole', and called it 'a low philological jest'.[22] In an earlier letter he had linked it to the related Icelandic verb smjúga, 'to creep through'.[24]
The Chinese lóng (龍) is often translated 'dragon', but the word is unrelated to drakōn. Wiktionary records proposals linking it to an ancient Sino-Tibetan word for 'dragon' or 'thunder', with relatives such as Tibetan 'brug. Like many reconstructions, this is a proposal, not a proven fact.[23]
Using real dragon names well
Some practical points, which are advice rather than findings:
- Check before you borrow. Fáfnir, Smaug and Python are well known, and a reader will spot them.
- Say 'uncertain' when it is. Popular sites often give one confident meaning for names like Fáfnir or Ladon. The dictionaries above show that scholars disagree.[9][16][13]
- Old words make good raw material. Real elements such as wyrm, draca and ormr give an invented name an old-world feel.[4][3][7]
The dragon generators on this site work the same way, combining elements into new names. Those names are invented, not recorded in any myth.