龍

Pictogram (象形) – originally depicting a sacred composite creature in ancient China, combining features of the snake, crocodile, fish, deer, etc.

Shang oracle-bone and bronze forms usually show a large-mouthed beast head and an S-shaped geometric body; Shang bronzes and decorative motifs show diamond- or scale-like patterning associated with snakes (perhaps fish or crocodile scales), occasionally with legs. In oracle-bone forms, the head bears one or two inverted 王-shaped elements (i.e. inverted axe/halberd forms) or a 玉-like ornament. The form in Heji H04655 matches Shang bronze forms, which are more pictorial, like an inverted axe/halberd attached above the head; scholars generally derive this “bottle-shaped horn” from deer antlers, though some bronze forms instead attach a bell-shaped or shell-like undeciphered graph or clan emblem.

In Western Zhou bronzes, the head ornament tends toward 辛; by the late Western Zhou and early Spring and Autumn period, the mouth is drawn downward into 肉, and the body behind the head develops a large bulge, like a snake swollen after swallowing a large animal. Thereafter head and body separate into the left and right parts of the character; by the Warring States period, the S-shaped right side also acquires three horizontal strokes like a dorsal fin. In Eastern Han stelae, the right side may, perhaps for ease of writing, change into a form like 尨; Sui stelae show forms written simply as 尨. This style becomes commoner from the Song and Yuan onward; Yuan editions already show the one-stroke form 龙, later standardized in mainland China. The Japanese form 竜 is first attested in the 597 Sui epitaph Dong Meiren Muzhi (《董美人墓誌》).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-bru(ŋ/k) (“dragon; thunder”). Cognate with Tibetan འབྲུག ('brug, “dragon; thunder”). The STEDT database also lists 隆 (OC *ɡ·ruːŋ, “thunder; sound of thunder”) and 雹 (OC *bruːɡ, “hail”) as cognates. Also compare 靐 (OC *brɯŋs, “sound of thunder”) and 霹靂 (OC *pʰeːɡ reːɡ, “thunder”).

This word is found in many languages of the region. Compare Proto-Hmong-Mien *-roŋ (“dragon”) (White Hmong zaj), Proto-Vietic *-roːŋ (“dragon”) (Vietnamese rồng), Vietnamese thuồng luồng (“serpent-like monster”), Khmer រោង (roong, “year of the dragon”), Thai มะโรง (má-roong, “dragon; year of the dragon”), Lao ມະໂລງ (ma lōng, “year of the dragon”), perhaps also Old Turkic [script needed]|[Term?] (*-lan, suffix denoting a wild, predatory animal) (Turkish aslan (“lion”), kaplan (“tiger”), yılan (“snake”)).