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 (vessel) onboard "Wyvern" shortly before she sank in an attempt to rescue the vessel by pumping out water. Two of the crew were later rescued, but a third crew member went down with the ship. He was found in the sea on 14 July 2013. "Wyvern" lay about under water after the foundering and various oil companies donated money to salvage her. Slavagers raised her from the Baltic Sea on 11 August 2013 and brought her to Stavanger on board the ship . She arrived in Stavanger on 15 August 2013. The cause of the foundering was found to be fractures