Wyvern folklore is rarely fire-breathing like the four-legged dragon. Sometimes modern fantasy book and media authors have wyverns that are frost-breathing or poison-breathing instead of fire-breathing. The current spelling "wyvern" is not attested before the seventeenth century as "winged two-footed dragon". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is an alteration of Middle English "wyver" (attested thirteenth century), from Anglo-French "wivre" (cf. French "guivre" and "vouivre"), which originate from Latin "vīpera", meaning "viper", "adder", or "asp". Conversely, medievalist William Sayers proposes a more complex origin for the term. He notes that the Anglo-French "guivre" and its Middle English derivative ceased to
Wyvern House and by 1997 to 360. On 14 August 1998 Wyvern House moved onto its new campus. Sixty years after its foundation, the complex, designed by Old Newingtonian architect John Lawes, was opened by the Governor of New South Wales, His Excellency Gordon Samuels AC. In January 2009, the Council of Newington College purchased the campus of Mary Andrews College adjacent to Wyvern House at 143–145 Trafalgar Street and 129–133 Cambridge Street. The new site contains two Victorian style homes, Braeside and Horaceville (1884) and a coach house. From 1946 until 1992 the site was the Braeside Church of England Hospital