Thursday, October 13, 2016

word usage - When did 'wyrm' lose its meaning as dragon?

I'm interested in finding out (roughly) when the Old English word 'wyrm' began to lose its meaning as 'A serpent, snake, dragon' due to the competing 'draca' and the later borrowing 'dragon'. I've consulted the OED but it suggests wyrm retains its meaning as 'dragon' until the 19th century, surely as an archaism. Can anyone could tell me approximately when draca and/or dragon became the popular choice to denote dragon

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