Named after Draco, the Athenian lawgiver of 621 BCE, who prescribed death for nearly every offense.
Excessively harsh or severe, especially of laws or their application.
From Latin 'Draco', from Greek 'Drákōn' (the Athenian lawgiver Draco, literally 'the Dragon' or 'the Serpent'), from 'drákōn' (dragon, large serpent), from the aorist stem of 'dérkomai' (to see sharply, to look with a piercing gaze), from PIE *derk- (to see, to look). 'Draco' the Athenian legislator (fl. 621 BCE) promulgated a code of law so severe — prescribing death for nearly all offences, including petty theft — that the ancient commentator Demades reportedly said it was written not in ink but in blood. The Greek word 'drákōn' (serpent,