Slavic Dragon

Slavic Dragon

In Slavic mythology, the word “zmey” (Bulgarian and Russian: змей, Macedonian: змеj) and its cognates zmiy (Polish: żmij), Ukrainian: змій) and zmaj (Serbian: змај, Bosnian, Croatian, Slovene: zmaj), are used to describe a dragon. These words are masculine forms of the Slavic word for "snake", which are normally feminine (like Russian zmeya). In Romania, there is a similar figure, derived from the Slavic dragon and named zmeu. Exclusively in Polish and Belarusian folklore, as well as in the other Slavic folklores, a dragon is also called smok (смок, цмок, smok). In South Slavic folklores, the same thing is also called lamya (derived from lamia). Although quite similar to other European dragons, Slavic dragons have their peculiarities.