Editing Dragon (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Beowulf - dracan.jpg|thumb|left|An early appearance of the [[Old English]] word {{lang|ang|dracan}} ([[Oblique case|oblique]] [[Grammatical number|singular]] of ''draca'') in ''[[Beowulf]]''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OCc8TF53RhMC&pg=PA196 Beowulf; a heroic poem of the 8th century, with tr., note and appendix by T. Arnold], 1876, p. 196.</ref>]]
The word ''dragon'' entered the [[English language]] in the early 13th century from [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|dragon}}, which, in turn, comes from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|draco}} (genitive {{lang|la|draconis}}), meaning "huge serpent, dragon", from {{langx|grc|[[:wikt:δράκων|δράκων]]}}, {{transliteration|grc|drákōn}} (genitive {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:δράκοντος|δράκοντος]]}}, {{transliteration|grc|drákontos}}) "serpent".{{sfn|Ogden|2013|page=4}}<ref name="LiddelScott">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Ddra%2Fkwn2 Δράκων] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620113648/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Ddra%2Fkwn2 |date=20 June 2010 }}, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', at Perseus project</ref> The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|pages=2–4}} The Greek word {{lang|grc|δράκων}} is most likely derived from the Greek verb {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:δέρκομαι|δέρκομαι]]}} ({{transliteration|grc|dérkomai}}) meaning "I see", the [[aorist]] form of which is {{lang|grc|ἔδρακον}} ({{transliteration|grc|édrakon}}).<ref name="LiddelScott"/> This is thought to have referred to something with a "deadly glance",<ref>{{Cite dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/dragon|title=dragon|dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=15 October 2021|archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009073530/https://www.etymonline.com/word/dragon|url-status=live}}</ref> or unusually bright<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=de%2Frkomai&la=greek&can=de%2Frkomai0&prior=to/de&d=Perseus:text:1999.01.0041:card=699&i=1#lexicon|title=Greek Word Study Tool|access-date=15 October 2021|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409213126/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=de%2Frkomai&la=greek&can=de%2Frkomai0&prior=to%2Fde&d=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0041%3Acard%3D699&i=1#lexicon|url-status=live}}</ref> or "sharp"<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://blog.oup.com/2015/04/st-georges-day-dragon-etymology/|title = Guns, herbs, and sores: Inside the dragon's etymological lair|date = 25 April 2015|access-date = 15 October 2021|archive-date = 17 November 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211117000637/https://blog.oup.com/2015/04/st-georges-day-dragon-etymology/|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wyld |first1=Henry Cecil |title=The Universal Dictionary of the English Language |date=1946 |page=334 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.64081}}</ref> 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 {{lang|ine-x-proto|*derḱ-}} meaning "to see"; the [[Sanskrit]] root {{lang|sa|दृश्}} ({{transliteration|sa|dr̥ś-}}) also means "to see".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Skeat |first1=Walter W. |title=An etymological dictionary of the English language |date=1888 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=178 |url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00skeauoft}}</ref>