Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Dromon
/ˈdrɒmɒn/noun
The oared warship of the Byzantine navy, lighter and faster than the classical trireme.
The Greek roots
δρόμος
drómos
a run, race course
Literally: “the runner”
Follow a root:δρόμος8 words
The story of the word
The runner, and it was built to be one. The dromon carried the Byzantine navy for roughly six centuries, and the larger ones mounted bronze siphons in the bow for projecting Greek fire, a weapon whose recipe was kept so tightly that it was lost. Δρόμος is a run or a race track, which is why it turns up in hippodrome, the horse-running place, and in dromedary, the running camel. English took the ship as dromond through Old French, and Middle English romances are full of them.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Medieval Latin → Old French → English
Same family
hippodromedromedarysyndromepalindrome
In a sentence
A squadron of dromons met the fleet at the mouth of the Bosporus.
The dromon traded armour for speed, and usually won by having it.