Slavic dragon - WikiHQ

thumb|Mikhail Zlatkovsky. Caricature of the revival of [[Slavic Native Faith|paganism in Russia. 1977]]

A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Polish żmij, Russian zmei (or ; ), Ukrainian (), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures (See

below). The physiognomy resembles a combination of the classical dragon and a snake (as a winged serpent), less often depicted with two legs and/or more than one head. Similar representations include the Aztec Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent) or Caduceus (Sumerian symbol of the god Enki borrowed into Greek mythology).

The Romanian zmeu could also be deemed a "Slavic" dragon, but a non-cognate etymology has been proposed.

A zmei may be beast-like or human-like (assuming dragon form in air, human form on ground), sometimes wooing women, but often plays the role of chief antagonist in Russian literature. In the Balkans, the zmei type is overall regarded as benevolent, as opposed to malevolent dragons known variously as ', ala or hala, or aždaja.

The Polish smok (e.g. Wawel Dragon of Kraków) or the Ukrainian or Belarusian smok (смок), tsmok (цмок), can also be included. In some Slavic traditions smok is an ordinary snake which may turn into a dragon with age.

Some of the common motifs concerning Slavic dragons include their identification as masters of weather or water source; that they start life as snakes; and that both the male and female can be romantically involved with humans.

Nomenclature

Etymology

The Slavic terms descend from Proto-Slavic *zmьjь. The further derivation that Serbo-Croatian zmaj "dragon" and ' "earth" ultimately descend from the same Proto-Slavic root zьm-, from the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *ǵhdem, was proposed by Croatian linguist Petar Skok. Lithuanian scholarship also points out that the connection of the snake (zmey) with the earthly realm is even more pronounced in folk incantations, since its name would etymologically mean 'earthly (being); that which creeps underground'.

The Russian zmei, Ukrainian zmiy may be rendered "serpent", but a "flying serpent" is always implicit, and similarly for the Belarusian , hence "dragon".

There is dissenting opinion that the Romanian zmeu may not be a loan word from the Slavic zmei group of words, but rather an early borrowing from the Thracian language.

Both the Russian flying serpent or dragon (; ) and fiery serpent (; ) are considered types of demons, which take on the shape of serpent/dragon in air, and a humanoid on land. Chudo in modern Russian means "a wonder", and once also had the meaning of "a giant"; "yudo" may relate to Iuda, the Russian form of the personal name "Judas", with connotations of uncleanness and the demonic.

Three- and six-headed zmei, slain by the titular hero in "Ivan Popyalov" (, "Ivan Cinders", Afanasyev's tale #135) appear as six-, nine-, and twelve-headed Chuda-Iuda in the cognate tale #137 "Ivan Bykovich" (). The inference is that Chudo-Yudo must also be a dragon, even though the word "serpent" (zmei) does not appear explicitly in the latter tale. Or, if the body of a decapitated snake () is joined to an ox or buffalo horn, it grows into a lamia after just 40 days, according to Bulgarian folk tradition published by in the 19th century.

There are also among the East Slavic folk the tradition that a viper transforms into a dragon. In Ukrainian folklore the viper needs 7 years to metamorphosize into a dragon, while in Belarusian folklore the requisite time is 100 years, according to one comparison.

The weather-making dragon, ismeju (or zmeu

Crossbreeds

There are other accounts of how the zmei is engendered. A hen-hatched egg unbeknownst to a human may turn into a zmei (Bulgaria).

There is the notion (thought to be inspired by the tornado) of a Slavic dragon that dips its tail into a river or lake and siphons up the water, ready to cause floods.

In Romanian folklore, dragons are ridden by weather-controlling wizards called the Solomonari. The type of dragon they ride may be the zmeu

The lamia and the hala (explained further below) are also generally perceived as weather dragons or demons.

Balkan Slavic dragons

In Bulgarian lore, the zmei is sometimes described as a scale-covered serpent-like creature with four legs and bat's wings, at other times as half-man, half-snake, with wings and a fish-like tail.

In Bulgaria, this zmei tends to be regarded as a benevolent guardian creature, while the lamya and hala were seen as detrimental towards humans.

Zmei lovers

A flying zmei may appear as a "mythological lover", i.e., a mythical creature behaving as a suitor and lover of human females.

<big>Zmey of Macedonian fairy tales</big>

In most Macedonian tales and folk songs they are described as extremely intelligent, having hypnotizing eyes. However, sometimes Zmey's could be men who would astrally project into the sky when there is a storm to battle the Lamia, a female evil version that wants to destroy the wheat. They were also known as guardians of the territory, and would even protect the people in it. Hostile behaviour was shown if another zmey comes into his territory. They could change their appearance in the form of a smoke, strong spark, fire bird, snake, cloud but almost afterwards he would gain the form of a handsome man and enter the chambers of a young maiden. They fell in love with women who were conceived on the same night as them, or born in the same day as them. He usually guards the girl from a small age and his love lasts forever. Some girls get sick by loving a zmey, and symptoms include paleness, shyness, antisocial behaviour, watery eyes, quietness and hallucinations. They didn't live a long life, because it resulted in suicide. Zmeys would kidnap girls and lead them into their mountain caves where she would serve him.

Benevolent zmei of the Balkans

There is a pan-Balkan notion that the zmei (known by various cognates) is a sort of "guardian-spirit dragon" against the "evil" types of dragon, given below. One explanation is that the Balkan zmej symbolized the patriotic dragon fighting the Turkish dragon, a way to vent the local population's frustration at not being able to overthrow the long-time Turkish rule.

Zmaj of Serbian fairy tales

thumb|Serbian tale "A Pavilion Neither in the Sky nor on the Earth".

The zmaj dragon in Serbian fairy tales nevertheless have sinister roles in a number of instances. In the well-known tale

Vuk Karadžić's collection of folktales have other examples. In "The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens", the dragon carries away the peahen maiden who is the hero's lover. In "Baš Čelik" the hero must contend with a dragon-king.

Lamia

The or lamya (), derived from the Greek lamia, is also seen as a dragon-like creature in Bulgarian ethnic population, currently inhabiting Bulgaria, with equivalents in Macedonia (lamja, lamna; ), and South-East Serbian areas ( ).

The Bulgarian lamia is described as reptile- or lizard-like and covered with scales, with 3–9 heads which are like dog's heads with sharp teeth. It may also have sharp claws, webbed wings, and the scales may be yellow color.

The Bulgarian lamia dwells in the bottoms of the seas and lakes, or sometimes mountainous caverns, or tree holes and can stop the supply of water to the human population, demanding sacrificial offerings to undo its deed. The lamia, bringer of drought, was considered the adversary of St. Ilya (Elijah) or a benevolent zmei.

In the Bulgarian version of Saint George and the Dragon, the dragon was a lamia. Bulgarian legends tell of how a hero (actually a double of St. George, denoted as "George of the Flowers", Cveten Gǝorgi, This song about St. George's fight with the lamia occurs in ritual spiritual verse supposed to be sung around St. George's day.

One of the versions collected by ethnologist begins: " (George of the Flowers fared out / Going around his congregation /On the road he met the fallow lamia..)". which is rather vague; Oxenford following Dozon, gave the color of the lamia as "fallow". and the hala or ala takes its place in Western Bulgaria.

This motif of hero against the evil dragon (lamia, ala/hala, or aždaja) is found more generally throughout the Balkan Slavic region. Sometimes this hero is a saint (usually St. George). In Western Bulgarian tradition, the halla itself was regarded as the whirlwind, which guarded clouds and contained the rain, but was also regarded as a type of dragon, alongside the folklore that the smok (roughly equated with "grass snake" but actually the Aesculapian snake