draco

See also: Draco

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, dragon”).

Pronunciation

Noun

dracō m (genitive dracōnis); third declension

  1. A dragon; a kind of snake or serpent.
  2. The standard of a Roman cohort, shaped like an Egyptian crocodile ('dragon') head.
  3. The astronomical constellation Draco, in Latin also called Anguis or Serpens [1]
  4. (Ecclesiastical) The Devil.

Usage notes

Draco usually connoted larger sorts of snakes in Classical usage, particularly those which seemed exotic to the Romans. One traditional rule gives the distinction among the various Latin synonyms as anguis being a water snake; draco being a "temple" snake, the sort of large, exotic snake associated with the guardianship of temples; and serpens being a common terrestrial snake. This rule is not universally credited, however.[2]

Inflection

Third declension.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative dracō dracōnēs
Genitive dracōnis dracōnum
Dative dracōnī dracōnibus
Accusative dracōnem dracōnēs
Ablative dracōne dracōnibus
Vocative dracō dracōnēs

Derived terms
Derived terms

Descendants

See also

References
  • draco in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • draco in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • draco in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • draco in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • draco in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
  • draco in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • draco in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
  • draco in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
  1. Georges, F. Calonghi, O. Badellino, Dizionario latino-italiano, Rosenberg & Sellier, 3° edition, Turin, 1989
  2. James Fergusson, Tree and serpent Worship, or illustrations of mythology and art in India in the 1st and 4th cent. a. Chr, London: Allen and Co.,1868, page 13 (note).
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.