a mid day ramble among

[Lyn J. Mangiameli]

I was changing the month today on my Dragonolgy calendar when my eye fell on an 
introductory  paragraph:

"Spell to Catch a Dragon. Take a mirror and sprinkle it with dragondust. then place a 
sapphire or other treasure outside the dragon's lair. When the dragon emerges to 
investigate the gemstone, quickly bring out the mirror so that the dragon sees its own 
reflection, and cry, "Ecce Narcisso Draconus Attractivae!" This spell will tame the dragon -- 
but watch out when it wears off!"

I can't find a previous use of this phrase, so perhaps the modern authors made it up for 
our amusement--yet I suspect it may be a quote from some early text. 

Now an attempt at tranlating the phrase took me down an interesting path. My pidgeon 
tranlation comes out as this: " Behold, the precious gemstone that attracts the dragon." 
This translation, though clearly consistent with the direction within the Dragonology 
paragraph (i.e., "place a saphire...") puts forward a much different definition of "narcissus" 
than our usual association of the word with the flower and the Greek myth. Apparently this 
use of the word was originally contemporary with the usual meanings, and though it made 
the jump from Greek to Latin, seems never to have made it into our English 
understandings. [this mostly comes from the OED and the Oxford Latin-English 
dictionary]. 

A couple of other tidbits I encountered. Narcissa as a stone was from Pliny. There is a 
reference to this in the OED and in The History of Egypt: 
The list of precious stones which Pliny tells us were
     found in Media, contains several kinds which we are unable
     to identify, e.g. the Zathênê, the gassinades and
     narcissitis. Pliny calls lapis-lazuli sapphirus, and
     declares that the bright specks of pyrites it contained
     rendered it unsuitable for engraving. In the Assyrian
     inscriptions Mount Bikni, the modern Demavend, is described
     as a mountain of Uknu, or lapis-lazuli. 

I'm rather suspicious that the narcissitis is a yellow sapphire. If so, it could be seen as 
rather reminding one of a star. It is also interesting how many have associated Cissy with a 
blue sapphire.

I know this all may mean nothing, particularly as JKR has stated that Cissy was named for a 
flower, but you all know the credibility I place in her public comments.

Just another bit of trivia. Draconite is a stone. 
One source describes it this way. 

Draconite is the dragon stone. In Western culture this is a precious stone, said to be found 
in the head of a dragon.... The western dragon stone was ... said to have magical 
properties. For those that believe in magic, this is the most likely contender for the source 
of a dragon's magical powers. For those that do not believe in magic, possibly the stone 
had something to do with the dragon's breath. In flame breathers, it may have acted to 
ignite the vapour, or it may have acted to filter the vapour in some way.

and from the Lexicon of Alchemy:
DRACONITES, DRACONTIAS, or DRACHATES --- is a Precious Stone which Pliny represents 
(1. 37, c. 11), as also Solinus (c. 33), to be found in the brain of serpents, but unless it is 
removed while they are alive, it will never become a precious stone, by the inbred malice 
of the animal who, conscious of death approaching, destroys the virtue of the stone. 
Therefore the head is removed from dragons while asleep, and thus the gem is secured. 
The energy of the living soul is imparted to many things which the corruption of death in 
the humours impairs. The colour of the Draconite is white; it drives away all poisonous 
animals and cures envenomed bites..... our Chelydrus, which was of an opaque black, 
surrounded by a pale ring, and having a very beautiful outline of a serpent on the surface. 
These species also drive away venomous animals and heal poisoned wounds.

With that  "never tickle a sleeping dragon" line found in the books, and the greatly 
enlarged role of both Draco and Cissy in the last volume, I must say, this is all rather 
intriguing for me, though likely of little actual significance to the series.