The Dragon Stone

This page briefly looks at what dragonology is.

Defining the Terms

Dragonology, draconology or dracology is the study of dragons. It is a broad term that could cover any form of study including historic work, spiritual paths, cryptozoology studies or analysis of fantasy fiction. This term is an example of a neologism - a new term created to describe a dragon researcher of any type. Though the term is quite well know, it is not used everywhere.

Someone involved in this study is called a dragonologist or draconologist. There is no formal way to become one. You do not need to have any formal qualifications or pass a test. A dragonologist is someone that says they are one.

Fact or Fiction

Dragonology has been discussed as a science, a cultural study and various other things. None of these are entirely true or false, because the term is not that well defined.

As an example, someone might write a totally fictional book on the eating habits of dragons. They invent this book as a bit of fun. They are a dragonologist and a fiction writer.

Someone else might go through a large selection of world mythology and write an essay on the mythical story themes of dragon myths. They are a dragonologist and a mythologist.

What this means is that you do not know from the use of the term 'dragonology' if the person is talking about fact or fiction.

How Useful is the Term?

The term dragonology is not the most useful one. It provides a vague idea that a person is involved in some form of dragon research. It does not provide any information on exactly what they might be up to. As a result, this is a term that is not always used. There are many people engaged in dragon research that do not call themselves dragonologists. They may use the general terms for the thing they study, such as mythologist, cryptozoologist or spiritualist.

Another issue is that dragonology is a modern term. This means that if you are searching for people who studied dragons in the past, you will not find them searching for dragonology.

This does not mean there is any harm in calling yourself a dragonologist. It does get the basic idea across that you are interested in dragons and there is no set standard before you can use the term. However, it is a good idea to keep in mind that you will miss a lot of interesting dragon information if you try to find it by searching for dragonology or dragonologist.