"here be dragons" meaning in All languages combined

See here be dragons on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Etymology: Evidence of the use of this term as a notation on actual historical maps is lacking. The only known appearance of an equivalent phrase in any language on a historical map is of Latin HC SVNT DRACONES (“here are dragons”), placed on the east coast of Asia, on the Hunt-Lenox Globe, which dates from c. 1510. The phrase is simply a variation on HIC SVNT LEONES ("here are lions"), the classical phrase used by medieval cartographers to denote unknown territories on maps. Etymology templates: {{uder|en|la|hic sunt dracones|HC SVNT DRACONES|here are dragons}} Latin HC SVNT DRACONES (“here are dragons”) Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} here be dragons
  1. A fanciful notation, commonly attributed to historical maps, held to indicate either the belief that unknown dangers exist in a certain location on the map, or that actual dragons can be found there. Synonyms: here be monsters, there be dragons Related terms: non plus ultra Translations (map notation indicating unknown dangers): 此處有龍 /此处有龙 (cǐchùyǒulóng) (Chinese Mandarin), hic sunt dracones (Latin)
    Sense id: en-here_be_dragons-en-phrase-Nuth0kea Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English sentences, English undefined derivations, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Latin translations, Terms with Mandarin translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 73 27 Disambiguation of English sentences: 58 42 Disambiguation of English undefined derivations: 66 34 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 70 30 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 69 31 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 76 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Latin translations: 73 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 67 33 Disambiguation of 'map notation indicating unknown dangers': 63 37
  2. By extension, used to indicate that which is unknown or uncertain, particularly if it seems to carry some type of risk.
    Sense id: en-here_be_dragons-en-phrase-s5~X6jfp
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        "2": "la",
        "3": "hic sunt dracones",
        "4": "HC SVNT DRACONES",
        "5": "here are dragons"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin HC SVNT DRACONES (“here are dragons”)",
      "name": "uder"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Evidence of the use of this term as a notation on actual historical maps is lacking. The only known appearance of an equivalent phrase in any language on a historical map is of Latin HC SVNT DRACONES (“here are dragons”), placed on the east coast of Asia, on the Hunt-Lenox Globe, which dates from c. 1510. The phrase is simply a variation on HIC SVNT LEONES (\"here are lions\"), the classical phrase used by medieval cartographers to denote unknown territories on maps.",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "_dis": "73 27",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "58 42",
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          "_dis": "66 34",
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          "_dis": "76 24",
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          "_dis": "67 33",
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        {
          "ref": "1994, Steven Henry Strogatz, Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: With Applications To Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering, page 11:",
          "text": "It's like in those old maps of the world, where the mapmakers wrote, \"Here be dragons\" on the unexplored parts of the globe.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Nornie Campbell, No Dragons Here, page 253:",
          "text": "The awakening world scrawled ‘Here Be Dragons’ across the unknown territory.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Susie Vrobel, Fractal Time: Why a Watched Kettle Never Boils, page 255:",
          "text": "When the old seafarers encountered uncharted territory, they would find those blank areas on the map marked with the phrase “Here be Dragons” and the image of a sea serpent or a similarly ferocious creature.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fanciful notation, commonly attributed to historical maps, held to indicate either the belief that unknown dangers exist in a certain location on the map, or that actual dragons can be found there."
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      "id": "en-here_be_dragons-en-phrase-Nuth0kea",
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          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "non plus ultra"
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        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "here be monsters"
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        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "there be dragons"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "cǐchùyǒulóng",
          "sense": "map notation indicating unknown dangers",
          "word": "此處有龍 /此处有龙"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "sense": "map notation indicating unknown dangers",
          "word": "hic sunt dracones"
        }
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1962, Geoffrey Fletcher, The London Nobody Knows, page 16:",
          "text": "Here be dragons in the shape of London landladies, owners of small hotels ('B. & B.') in the streets off the lower end of Euston Road. . .",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, Ritchie Calder, reported in New Scientist, Vol. 114, No. 1559, May 7, 1987, p. 61",
          "text": ". . . let me go into what was the unknown, ‘Here-be-Dragons’, hinterland of science, to find out what made scientists tick. . ."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Incorporated Association of Organists, Organists' Review, Volume 79, Issues 309-312, p. 219",
          "text": "Speaking of money... here be dragons... Do you charge?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, William R. Everdell, The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought, page 191:",
          "text": "Analytical philosophers mark \"Here be dragons\" on the part of the intellectual map that belongs to phenomenology.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Charles Jones, The Edinburgh history of the Scots language, page 336:",
          "text": "In undertaking such a task, I realise that I am venturing into uncharted waters, or at least waters for which only charts of the ‘here be dragons’ variety exist.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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  "wikipedia": [
    "here be dragons"
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  "word": "here be dragons"
}
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  "pos": "phrase",
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    {
      "word": "non plus ultra"
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          "type": "quote"
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          "ref": "2004, Nornie Campbell, No Dragons Here, page 253:",
          "text": "The awakening world scrawled ‘Here Be Dragons’ across the unknown territory.",
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        },
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          "ref": "2011, Susie Vrobel, Fractal Time: Why a Watched Kettle Never Boils, page 255:",
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          "type": "quote"
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          "ref": "1962, Geoffrey Fletcher, The London Nobody Knows, page 16:",
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          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, Ritchie Calder, reported in New Scientist, Vol. 114, No. 1559, May 7, 1987, p. 61",
          "text": ". . . let me go into what was the unknown, ‘Here-be-Dragons’, hinterland of science, to find out what made scientists tick. . ."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Incorporated Association of Organists, Organists' Review, Volume 79, Issues 309-312, p. 219",
          "text": "Speaking of money... here be dragons... Do you charge?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, William R. Everdell, The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought, page 191:",
          "text": "Analytical philosophers mark \"Here be dragons\" on the part of the intellectual map that belongs to phenomenology.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Charles Jones, The Edinburgh history of the Scots language, page 336:",
          "text": "In undertaking such a task, I realise that I am venturing into uncharted waters, or at least waters for which only charts of the ‘here be dragons’ variety exist.",
          "type": "quote"
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    {
      "word": "here be monsters"
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    {
      "word": "there be dragons"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "cǐchùyǒulóng",
      "sense": "map notation indicating unknown dangers",
      "word": "此處有龍 /此处有龙"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "map notation indicating unknown dangers",
      "word": "hic sunt dracones"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "here be dragons"
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}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.