Draconine Terminology, or Dragon Words: Part 1

Dragon, Dragons, Drake, Lindwyrm

Starting out you might be thinking "there can't possibly be that many types of dragons." 

Well I am here to blow your mind and teach you some of what I have learned from my time spent doing research for fantasy projects. Yes, I have probably spent too much time on this, and yes, it was worth it.

First we'll go over variants of dragons, and then we'll move on to dragon-related words. Because there's a surprisingly large amount of those, too.

Western Dragon, Also Known as the European Dragon

The western dragon is commonly categorized as having 4 legs, 2 wings, and a tail. Many have some form of horns on their head, and the ability to breathe fire. Some forms of this type can breathe other substances, or have magical abilities beyond what is described here.

Wyvern

Wvyerns also have 2 wings and a tail, but they only have 2 legs. Thus their bodies are balanced much more like a bird's than other dragons are. Wyverns often have some of the same special or magical abilities that Western/European dragons have.

Amphithere

This type of dragon has a longer, more serpentine body, and an obvious lack of legs. It more or less looks like a flying snake. I am not aware of any typical traits among this type other than physical features, though it would not surprise me if amphitheres were fire-breathers, too.

Wyrm

Wyrms don't even have legs. They appear to be giant snakes. However, they are not snakes, and tend to have some of the higher level functions that the other types of dragons have. Their faces also strongly resemble those of the wyvern and Western/European type.

Lindwurm

A Lindwurm has only two legs. It strongly resembles a wyrm physically, and has the typical facial features that identify it as a dragon. Note that the lindwurm is not the same as the lindorm from Norwegian heraldry, as the lindorm is considered the same as the wyvern from Britain.

Lung/Long

The Chinese dragon has a long, serpentine body, and four legs. These dragons, known as lung or long dragons, are often depicted in art as having lion-like heads, and having the ability to fly desperate a notable lack of wings. In some stories, they have dragon pearls, which symbolise traits such as wisdom.

Drake

I hadn't actually heard about drakes until more recently. I had heard of the term drake in reference to a male dragon, but it isn't usually used that way. As it turns out a drake is commonly defined as a dragon that looks like a western dragon, but with one key difference- no wings. Drakes have the same capabilities as many other dragons with the exception of flight.

Now that we've covered all that, I think we're ready to move on to the next part. Words that are used in relation to dragons.


Comments