Merpeople/Mythology

Associated with floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings. They can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans. Beautiful and seductive singers, using their beautiful song as a lure. Nereids. Two-tails. Vain, using mirrors and combs. Pure.

* thermoregulation (adaptations for regulating body heat);
* evolutionary mismatch;
* reproductive challenges;
* digestive differences between mammals and fish;
* lack of physical evidence.

There are also naturalist theories on the origins of the mermaid, postulating they derive from sightings of manatees, dugongs or even seals.

Still another theory, tangentially related to the aforementioned Aquatic Ape Theory, is that the mermaids of folklore were actually human women who trained over time to be skilled divers for things like sponges, and spent a lot of time in the sea as a result. One proponent of this theory is British author William Bond, who has written several books about it.

There are faux mermaids who crafted tails from fabric to help them swim, and trained themselves over time to become skilled divers to gather sponges and algae to feed their villages, they give birth in the water

## Medieval literature

### Merwomen in Germanic literature

*Nibelungenlied*

Hagen unloads Nibelungen treasure where the Rhine mermaids await. Adventure 19.

Hagen with the prophetic prophetic mermaids, Hadeburg and Sigelind. Adventure 25.

—Pfizer ed. (1843) *Nibelungen noth*. Wooodcuts by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther.

#### Nibelungenlied

Two prophetic merwomen (MHG pl.: *merwîp*), Sigelinde (MHG: Sigelint) and her maternal aunt Hadeburg (MHG: Hadeburc) are bathing in the Danube River when Hagen von Tronje encounters them (*Nibelungenlied*, Âventiure 25).

They are called *sjókonar* ("sea woman") in the Old Norse *Þiđreks saga*. There is a swan maiden tale motif involved here (Hagen robs their clothing), but Grimm thought they must have actually been swan maidens, since they are described as hovering above water.

In any case, this brief segment became the "foundational" groundwork of subsequent water-nix lore and literature that developed in the Germanic sphere.

They are a probable source of the three Rhine maidens in Richard Wagner's opera *Das Rheingold*. Though conceived of as swan-maidens in Wagner's 1848 scenario, the number being a threesome was suggested by the wooodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther in the Pfizer edition of 1843 (fig. on the left).

#### Rabenschlacht

Middle High German *mereminne* 'mermaid' is mentioned, among other epics, in the *Rabenschlacht* ("Battle of Ravenna", 13th cent.) of the Dietrich cycle. The mermaid (or undine) is named Wâchilt and is the ancestress of the traitorous Wittich who carries him off at the time of peril to her "submarine home".

This material has been found translated as a medieval *Þiðreks saga* only in a late, reworked Swedish version, i.e., one of the closing chapters of *Ðiðriks saga* (15th century, *aka* the "Swedish epilogue".). The mermaid/undine is here translated as Old Swedish *haffru*.

The Old Norse *Þiðreks saga* proper calls the same mermaid a *sjókona* (*siókona* [sic.]) or "sea-woman".

The genealogy is given in the saga: the sea-woman and Villcinus (Vilkinus), king of Scandinavia together had a son, Vaði (Wade) of (Sjóland=Sjælland, Zealand) who was a giant (*risi*); whose son was Velent (Wayland the Smith), whose son after that was Viðga Velentsson (Wittich or Witige), who became a companion/champion of King Þiðrekr (Dietrich von Bern).

The frequently mentioned Sjælland, Denmark is interpreted to the divided portion of Villcina-land inherited by the bastard prince Vaði/Wade. The Swedish epilogue transposed the location of the crucial battle where the mermaid appeared, from Ravenna, Northern Italy (supposedly, in the original German epic *Rabenschlacht*), to Gronsport, somewhere on the Moselle, in Northern Germany, then transported Viðga back to Sjælland.

## Folklore of the British Isles

The Norman chapel in Durham Castle, built around 1078, has what is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England. It can be seen on a south-facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars.

Mermaid carving on a bench end
―Zennor, Cornwall.

Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky omens, both foretelling disaster and provoking it. Several variants of the ballad *Sir Patrick Spens* depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships. In some versions, she tells them they will never see land again; in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. Mermaids can also be a sign of approaching rough weather, and some have been described as monstrous in size, up to 2,000 feet (610 m).]

In another short ballad, "Clerk Colvill" (Child ballad No. 42), the mermaid seduces the title character and foretells his doom. It has been surmised that in the original complete version, the man was being penalized for spurning her, though the Scandinavian counterparts that tells the complete story feature an elf-woman or elf queen rather than mermaid.

Mermaids have been described as able to swim up rivers to freshwater lakes. In one story, the Laird of Lorntie went to aid a woman he thought was drowning in a lake near his house; his servant pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed at them that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant. But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent; e.g., teaching humans cures for certain diseases. Mermen have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids, with little interest in humans.

According to legend a mermaid came to the Cornish village of Zennor, where she used to listen to the singing of a chorister, Matthew Trewhella. The two fell in love, and Matthew went with the mermaid to her home at Pendour Cove. On summer nights, the lovers can be heard singing together. The legend, recorded by folklorist William Bottrell, stems from a 15th-century mermaid carving on a wooden bench at the Church of Saint Senara in Zennor.

Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative.

In Scottish mythology, a *ceasg* is a freshwater mermaid, though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore.

Mermaids from the Isle of Man, known as *ben-varrey*, are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions, with various accounts of assistance, gifts and rewards. One story tells of a fisherman who carried a stranded mermaid back into the sea and was rewarded with the location of treasure. Another recounts the tale of a baby mermaid who stole a doll from a human little girl, but was rebuked by her mother and sent back to the girl with a gift of a pearl necklace to atone for the theft. A third story tells of a fishing family that made regular gifts of apples to a mermaid and was rewarded with prosperity.

In Irish lore, Lí Ban was a human being transformed into a mermaid. After three centuries, when Christianity came to Ireland, she was baptized. The Irish mermaid is called merrow in tales such as "Lady of Gollerus" published in the 19th century.

## Scandinavian folklore

### Haffrue

The mermaid corresponds to Danish and Bokmål Norwegian *havfrue*, whereas merman answers to Danish/Norwegian *havmand*.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Tracing this etymologically to Old Norse is elusive. Old Swedish *haffru* was used as a tanslation word in the Sweidish saga of Didrik (14 cent.) as mentioned under §Etymologies. A supposed Old Norse *haffrú* is the etymological source of Norman French *havette* for a man-snatching water-sprite, according to one linguist.

As a side-note, Norman French *havette* is a possible derivative.

An early description of the *Havfrue*, and her mate *Havmand*, was given by the Dano-Norwegian Bishop Pontoppidan (1753). They were considered the mating female and male of the creature, inhabiting the North Sea, and their offspring was called *marmæle* (var. *marmæte*), as repeated by later commentators.

Though he was aware of fabulous fables being told about them, he was convinced such creature existed. But as they were non-human, he argued the term *Havmand* (merman) should be avoided, in favor of some coined term such as **sea-ape** (Danish: *hav-abe*). He also knowingly employed Old Norwegian/Old Norse *maryge* [sic.] and *hafstrambe* [sic.] as the Norwegian names of the mermaid and merman respectively.

#### Havfrue cognates

The Icelandic cognate form is *haffrú* with several synonyms, though instead of these the commonly used term today is *hafmey*.

The Faroese forms are *havfrúgv* (*havfrúg*). The Swedish form is *hafsfru*, with other synonyms such as *sjöjungfru*, or *sjörå* ('sea-fairy', the maritime counterpart of the forest *skogsrå*).

### Other aliases

The terms *margýgur* or *havgýgur* as aliases for mermaid were apparently current among the populace in modern-age Iceland, according to Jón Árnason alongside the *marbendill* (modern Icelandic for ON *marmennill*)

Benjamin Thorpe (1851) writing on Norwegian folklore gave *margygr* for mermaid (and *marmennill* for merman) as Norwegian folk terms, but these are interpolations, which the source, Andreas Faye's *Norske sagn* (1833), only side-noted as occurrences of old terms in medieval literature.

### General characteristics

The beautiful *havfrue* of Scandinavia may be benevolent or malicious, and legends about her abducting maidens (cf. infra) is given as a case of point for her malice.

It is said the *havfrue* will avenge harm done to it, as in the Norwegian anecdote of one who was lured near the ship, and had her hand cruelly lopped off on the gunwale. She caused a storm that nearly drowned the wicked sailor.

### Omen, prophecy and wisdom

The appearance/sighting alone betides an impending storm. Norwegians do not wish to see the havfrue, as she heralds storm or bad weather (Norway). The appearance of the *sjörå* forebodes a storm or poor catch in Swedish tradition, much as the appearance of the skogsrå (wood-nymph) presages poor catch for the hunter. According to the superstitions of Swedish fishermen, if one saw a *sjörå*　who was harbinger of tempest and bad catch, one should not tell his comrades but stike flint against steel to light a spark.

In other cases the Scandinavian mermaid is considered to be prophetic.

The tale type "The Mermaid's Message" (Norwegian: *Havfruas spådom*, ML 4060) is recognized as a Migratory Legend [no], i.e., a group of tales found in Scandinavia with parallels found elsewhere, according to the scheme devised by Reidar Thoralf Christiansen. This may not necessarily involve the mermaid's spaeing, and in the following example of this ML type tale, she merely imparts wisdom: A fisherman who performs favors and earns the privilege to pose three questions to a mermaid. He inquires about the most suitable material for a flail, to which she answers calf's hide, of course, and tells him he should have asked about how to brew water (into beer), which would have benefited him more greatly.

### Merfolk as abductors

The Swedish ballad "Hafsfrun" (≈*Havsfruns tärna* [sv], SMB 23, TSB A 51) is an instance where a mermaid kidnaps a human girl at age fifteen, and when the girl's brother accomplishes the rescue, the mermaid declares she would have cracked her neck if she knew she would be thus betrayed. The Swedish merman Hafsman[nen] steals a human woman to become his bride according to folklore.

### Marmaele

As aforementioned, the mermaid (Norwegian: *havfrue*) takes the merman (Norwegian: *havmand*) for husband, and produce children called *marmæler* (sing. Norwegian: *marmæle*, "sea-talkers"). which the fishermen sometimes bring home to gain insight into the future.

Early sources say that Norwegian fishermen who capture the *marmæte* or *marmæle* may bring them home but do not dare keep it for more than 24 hours before turning them back into the sea whence they found it.

### Margýgr

Jón Árnason describes the *margýgur* as yellow-haired woman who is fish from the waist down, who drags careless seamen to the depths of the sea.

The margýgr (she has a fish-like tail but is cropped in this view) vs. St. Olaf
―Flateyjarbk fol. 79r

However, *margygr* literally means something like "mer-troll", and in medieval tradition, the *margygr* is more of a "sea monster" or "sea-ogress".

According to a version of the *Saga of St. Olaf* (Olaf II of Norway) the king encountered a *margygr* whose singing lulled voyagers to sleep causing them to drown and whose high-pitched shrieks drove men insane. Her physical appearance is described thus: "She has a head like a horse, with ears erect and distended nostrils, big green eyes and fearful jaws. She has shoulders like a horse and hands in front; but behind she resembles a serpent". This *margygr* was also said to be furry like a seal, and gray-colored.

## Western European folklore

Raymond discovers Melusine in her bath, Jean d'Arras, *Le livre de Mélusine*, 1478.

Melusine is a mermaid-like character from European folklore, cursed to take the form of a serpent from the waist down. Later depictions sometimes changed this to a fish tail, and in heraldry her name was sometimes used for a mermaid with two tails.

The alchemist Paracelsus's treatise *A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits* (1566) spawned the idea that the water elemental (or water sprite) could acquire an immortal soul through marriage with a human; this led to the writing of De la Motte Fouqué's novella *Undine*, and eventually to the famous literary mermaid tale, Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid".

During the Romanesque period, mermaids were often associated with lust.

## Byzantine and Ottoman Greek folklore

The conception of the *siren* as both a mermaid-like creature and part bird-like persisted in Byzantine Greece for some time. The *Physiologus* began switching the illustration of the siren as that a mermaid, as in a version dated to the 9th century. The 10th century Byzantine Greek dictionary *Suda* still favored the avian description.

There is a modern Greek legend that Alexander the Great's sister Thessalonike turned into a mermaid (Greek: γοργόνα) after her death, living in the Aegean. She would ask the sailors on any ship she encountered only one question: "Is King Alexander alive?",(Greek: "Ζει ο Βασιλεύς Αλέξανδρος;") to which the correct answer was: "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: "Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμον κυριεύει"). This answer would please her, and she would accordingly calm the waters and bid the ship farewell. Any other answer would enrage her, and she would stir up a terrible storm, dooming the ship and every sailor on board. This legend derives from an Alexander romance entitled the *Phylláda tou Megaléxandrou* (Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου) dating to the Ottoman Greece period, first printed in 1680.

## Eastern Europe

Ilya Repin, *Sadko* (1876)

Rusalkas are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sirens and naiads, often seducing sailors to their doom. The nature of rusalkas varies among folk traditions, but according to ethnologist D.K. Zelenin they all share a common element: they are the restless spirits of the unclean dead. They are usually the ghosts of young women who died a violent or untimely death, either by murder or suicide, before their wedding, especially by drowning. Rusalkas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers. They appear as beautiful young women with long pale green hair and pale skin, suggesting a connection with floating weeds and days spent underwater in faint sunlight. They can be seen after dark, dancing together under the moon and calling out to young men by name, luring them to the water and drowning them. The characterization of rusalkas as both desirable and treacherous is prevalent in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, and was emphasized by 19th-century Russian authors. The best-known of the great Czech nationalist composer Antonín Dvořák's operas is *Rusalka*.

In *Sadko* (Russian: Садко), an East Slavic epic, the title character—an adventurer, merchant, and *gusli* musician from Novgorod—lives for some time in the underwater court of the "Sea Tsar" and marries his daughter, Chernava, before finally returning home. The tale inspired such works as the poem *Sadko* by Alexei Tolstoy (1817–75), the opera *Sadko* composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and the painting *Sadko* by Ilya Repin.

## Chinese folklore

Further information: Merfolk § China, and § Sightings in China

A merfolk race called the Di people [zh] are described as populating its own nation in the *Shanhaijing* (*Classic of Mountains and Seas*) compilation of Chinese geography and mythology, dating from the 4th century BC. The ancient work also included several types of human-headed fish, such as the *chiru* [zh] or "red ru fish"; as well as creature with some humanlike qualities like the *renyu* (人魚) or "human-fish".

Note that these are not of a specific gender, so they are not really conducive to being called "mermaids", though some English (European) writers might use "mermaid" as shorthand.

There is also an account of the *hairenyu* [ja](海人魚; "sea human fish"), given in the *Taiping guangji* compilation, sourced from the work entitled *Qiawenji* (洽聞記). The female of its kind had a head like beautiful woman's, with hair like a horse's tail, and white skin like jade without scales, covered with multicolored downy hair (or peach fuzz), and legless. The male and female had sexual organs like humans, so that widows and widowers would keep them in their ponds, and the creatures could perform sexual intercourse normally as a human would.

An anecdote considered relevant concerns a *renyu* ("human fish") allegedly seen by the ship carrying Zha Dao (査道), and emissary to Korea. She had a unkempt hairdo and scarlet mane extending to the back of her elbows. Zha ordered the crew to bring her aboard with poles, but she escaped. Zha explained that she was a *renyu*, adept at fornicating with humans, and was a type of human dwelling in the sea. The anecdote is included in another *leishu* compilation called *Gujin tushu jicheng* (古今圖書集成 "Comprehensive Compendium of Illustrations and Books, Ancient and Modern").

## Korean folklore

Korea is bound on three sides by the sea. In some villages near the sea in Korea, there are mysterious stories about mermaids. Mermaids have features just like humans. Kim Dam Ryeong, a mayor of the town, saved four captured mermaids from a fisherman, as recorded in the *Eou yadam* (*unofficial histories*). In Dongabaek Island of Busan is a tale of Princess Hwang-ok from Naranda, a mythical undersea kingdom of mermaids; this tale is based on the historical Heo Hwang-ok from India. Another tale concerns a mermaid named Sinjike (Korean: 신지끼) who warned fishermen of impending storms by singing and throwing rocks into the sea from Geomun Island. The island's residents believed her to be a goddess of the sea and that she could predict the weather.

## Japanese folklore

Main article: ningyo

"Ningyo no zu": A flier of a mermaid, dated 5th month of Bunka 2 (1805).
The Japanese equivalent is ningyo (人魚, literally "human-fish"). According to one dictionary, *ningyo* oftentimes refers to a "half-woman and half-fish fabulous creature", i.e., mermaid, though not necessarily female, i.e., includes mermen.

Despite the dictionary stating it has the appearance of half-woman half-fish, the creature has been pictorialized rather as a being with a human female head sitting on a body which is entirely fish-like (see fig. right).

### Ningyo flesh

The *ningyo'*s flesh was purported to be an elixir, and consuming its flesh said to bestow remarkable longevity.

A famous *ningyo* legend concerns the Yao bikuni [ja] who is said to have partaken of the flesh of a merfolk and attained miraculous longevity and lived for centuries. It is not discernible whether the flesh was a female; a pair of translators call it "flesh of a mermaid" in one book, but merely a "strange fish with a human face" in another.

### As yōkai

A *ningyo* might be counted as a *yōkai* since it is included in Toriyama Sekien's *Hyakki Yagyō* series. Gender is unclear, as it is only described as a being with "a human face, a fish body". However, Sekien's *ningyo* picture actually represents a "human-fish" that lives in Western China, also known as the Di people Diren [zh], according to the inscription printed alongside. They are described in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* and translated as the "Low People" or the "Di People".

## Indian folklore

Suvannamaccha and Hanuman, mural at Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok.
In Hinduism, Suvannamaccha (lit. golden mermaid) is a daughter of Ravana who appears in the Cambodian and Thai versions of the Ramayana. She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil Hanuman's plans to build a bridge to Lanka, but falls in love with him instead. She is a popular figure in Thai folklore.

## Southeast Asia and Polynesia

In Thailand, Suvannamaccha is a daughter of Tosakanth appearing in the Thai and other Southeast Asian versions of Ramayana. She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil Hanuman's plans to build a bridge to Lanka but falls in love with him instead.

In Cambodia, she is referred as Sovanna Maccha, a favorite for Cambodian audiences.

### Indonesia

In the Javanese culture of Indonesia, Nyai Roro Kidul is a sea goddess and the Queen of the Southern Seas; the mermaid queen is said to inhabit the southern beach in Java. She has many forms; in her mermaid form, she is called Nyai Blorong.

### Philippines

In the Tagalog language mermaids are nown as *sirena and siyokoy* respectively. The general term for mermaid among all ethnic groups is Sirena.

In the Philippines, mermaid concepts differ per ethnic group. Among the Pangasinense, the Binalatongan mermaid is a Queen of the sea who married the mortal Maginoo Palasipas and ruled humanity for a time. Among the Ilocano, mermaids were said to have propagated and spread through the union of the first Serena and the first Litao, a water god. Among the Bicolano, mermaids were referred as Magindara, known for their beautiful voice and vicious nature. Among the Sambal, mermaids called Mambubuno are depicted as having two fins, instead of one.

### New Zealand

Mermaids and mermen are also characters of The myth of "Pania of the Reef", a well-known tale of Māori mythology, has many parallels with stories of sea-people in other parts of the world.

## African folklore

Mami Water (Lit. "Mother of the Water") are water spirits venerated in West, Central and southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Caribbean and parts of North, Central and South America. They are usually female, but are sometimes male. They are regarded as diabolical beings, and are often femme fatales, luring men to their deaths. The Persian word "پری دریایی" or "maneli" means "mermaid".

In Zimbabwe mermaids are known as "njuzu". They are believed to be solitary and occupy one body of water. Individual njuzu may be benevolent or malicious. Angry njuzu may be blamed for unexpected misfortunes, such as bad weather or the sudden disappearance of people. Benevolent njuzu are thought to reside in peaceful lakes or rivers. If a person goes missing near such lakes or rivers, they may have been taken by the njuzu. To obtain the person's release, local elders will brew beer as a propitiatory offering, and ask the njuzu to return the person alive. Those seeking the person's release are not supposed to cry or shed tears. If the njuzu releases the person, they will become or be regarded as a *n'anga*, or traditional healer, with knowledge of herbs, medicinal plants, and cures.[*citation needed*]

Examples from other cultures are the jengu of Cameroon.[*citation needed*]

## Arabian folklore

### *One Thousand and One Nights*

The *One Thousand and One Nights* collection includes several tales featuring "sea people", such as "Jullanâr the Sea-born and Her Son King Badr Bâsim of Persia". Unlike depictions of mermaids in other mythologies, these are anatomically identical to land-bound humans, differing only in their ability to breathe and live underwater. They can (and do) interbreed with land humans, and the children of such unions have the ability to live underwater. In the tale "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman", the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land. The underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. In "The Adventures of Bulukiya", the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, where he encounters societies of mermaids.

## American folklore

The Neo-Taíno nations of the Caribbean identify a mermaid called *Aycayia* with attributes of the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree *Hibiscus tiliaceus*. In modern Caribbean culture, there is a mermaid recognized as a Haitian *vodou* loa called *La Sirene* (lit. "the mermaid"), representing wealth, beauty and the orisha Yemaya.[*citation needed*]

### Iara and Ipupiara

In Brazilian folklore, the iara, also known as *mãe-d'agua* ("lady/mother of the water") is a water-dwelling beauty whom fishermen are prone to fall prey to. "Iara is a beautiful white woman who lives in a river and seduces men as she sings with her hypnotizing and enchanting voice . Once the man is seduced he is drawn into the river to be gone forever". she is reputedly golden-haired, though the blond, blue-eyed image was not attested until after mid-19th century, to the best knowledge of Camara Cascudo. Cascudo in his earlier writing contended that though the Iara was rooted in two indigenous beings, the water-devil Ipupiara (cf. below) and the Cobra-Grande, he also saw the combining of the Portuguese lore of the Enchanted Moura (moorish girl), who was obviously dark-skinned. The Iara became increasingly to be regarded as a woman-fish, after the image of the European sirens/mermaids.

It is often argued that the legends of the Iara developed around the 18th century out of the indigenous myth of the Ipupiara [pt] among the Tupinambá people. The Ipupiara was originally conceived of as a male water-dweller that carried fishermen to the bottom, devouring their mouths, nose, fingertips and genitals. European writers during the age of exploration disseminated the myth, but the Gandavo [pt] (1576) included an illustration of "Hipupiàra" with female breasts. Subsequently the Jesuit Cardim [pt] wrote that the "Igpupiàra" also consisted of females that look like women with long hair. Though somewhat vague in the case of Gandavo, Cardim had clearly injected Christian opionion which would readily relegate the role of emasculating men to the female kind. Later with the introduction of African slaves, the Yoruba myth of Iemanjá was admixed into the telling.

## Reported sightings

### Roman Lusitania and Gaul

In his *Natural History* 9.4.9–11, Pliny the Elder, remarked that a triton (merman) was seen off the coast of Olisipo (present-day Lisbon, Portugal), and it bore the physical appearance in accordance with common notion of the triton, according to a deputation from Lisbon who reported it to Emperor Tiberus. One nereid was sighted earlier on the same (Lisbon) coast. Pliny remarks that contrary to popular notion, the true nereids are not smooth-skinned in their human-like portions, but covered with scales all over the body. Their mournful song at death have also been heard by the coastal inhabitants. Also, multiple nereids had washed up on the shore according to the legatus/governor of Gaul, who informed the late Emperor Augustus about it in a letter.

16th century Swedish writer Olaus Magnus quotes the same passage from Pliny, and further notes that the nereid are said to utter "dismal moans (wailings) at the hour of her death", thus observing a connection to the legend of sea-nymphs and the sister Fates whose clashing cymbals and flute tunes could be heard on shore. Olaus in a later passage states that the nereids (tr. "mermaids") are known to "sing plaintively", in general.

It has been conjectured that these carcasses of nereids washed up on shore were "presumably seals".

### Age of Exploration Americas and polar frontiers

In 1493, sailing off the coast of Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus spotted three sirens or mermaids (Spanish: *serenas*) which he said were not as beautiful as they are represented, due to some masculine features in their faces, but these are considered to be sightings of manatees.

During Henry Hudson's second voyage on 15 June 1608, members of his crew reported sighting a mermaid in the Arctic Ocean, either in the Norwegian or Barents Seas.

Dutch explorer David Danell during his expeditions to Greenland in 1652–54 claimed to have spotted a mermaid with "flowing hair and very beautiful", though the crew failed to capture it.

#### Colonial Brazil

Bartholin's siren (1654). He came into the possession of its hand and ribs (shown right).
Danish physician and natural historian Thomas Bartholin wrote about a mermaid specimen caught in Brazil (probably a manatee ) and subsequently dissected at Leiden. Though referred to in the text as a "sea-man" (*homo marinus*) from Brazil, the account was accompanied by an engraved drawing captioned "Sirene", whose appearance was that of a humanoid female with bared breasts (a mermaid). The specimen's body was deformed and "without the sign of a tail", matching the drawing. And "a membrane [that] join [the fingers] together" is also reflected in the drawing as well (as her webbed pair of hands/forepaws).

The specimen's account and illustration was later reproduced by Linnaeus, who captioned the beast "Siren Bartholini", hence "Bartholin's Siren".

Bartholin was actually not the sole proprietor of the specimen, but he came into possession of its hand and ribs, which he also illustrated in his book (figures above). Based on the illustration, the "hand" has been determined to be the front flipper belonging to a manatee by a team of researchers.

Bartholin himself had argued that it was a sea mammal closely related to seals (*phocae*). His rationale was that since there are several marine counterparts to land mammals e.g. "sea-horses", the possibility of a marine creature with striking likeness to humans could not be ruled out, though they should all be classified among seal-kind.

Erasmus Francisci (Erasmus Finx, 1668) associated this Brazilian specimen with the local native lore of the "Yupiapra" (Ipupiara).

These books refer to the mermaid/merman as "*piscis anthropomorphos*" (Dutch: *Anthropomorphus*), and emphasize how human-like they appear in their upper bodies, as well as providing woodcut or etchings illustrating the male and female of the part-human part-fish creature.

The "woman-fish" (or *peche mujer* in modern Spanish)) was the name given to the creature among the Spaniards, but the sources also state it was called "duyon" by the indigenous people. and it is assumed the actual creature was a dugong (according to modern translators' notes).

Several of these sources mention the medical use of the woman-fish to control the flow of blood (or the four humours). It was effective for staunching the bleeding, i.e., effective against hemorrhages, according to Jonston. Other sources mention the ability to stop bleeding, e.g. Colín, who also thought that the Philippine woman-fish tasted like fatty pork. The bones were made into beads (i.e., strung together), as it was believed effective against defluxions (of the humours).

Allegedly captured in the Moluccas in the 17th century was the so-called "Amboina mermaid" (after the then Dutch Province of Ambon), which its leading researcher has referred to as Samuel Fallours's "Sirenne", after the man who came into possession of it and made an original painting of it in full color.

It was supposedly caught Boeren in Ambon Province (Buru, in present-day Maluku Province), presumably around the years 1706–1712, or perhaps the year 1712 precisely. During this period, Fallours served briefly as soldier for the VOC (Dutch East India Company) starting June 1706, but turned associate curate (Krankbezoeker) for the Dutch Reformed Church (September 1706 to June 1712).

Fallour's mermaid with additional details were described by François Valentijn in a 1726 book.

The mermaid was 59 Dutch inches (*duimen*) long, or 5 feet in Rhineland measures. She reportedly survived 4 days 7 hours in a water tank, and died after refusing food it was given, having uttered no intelligible sound, or issuing sounds like screechings of a mouse (French: *souris*). Something like a straw cape (Japanese *mino*) appears wrapped around her waist in the painting according to one commentator, but Fallours revealed in his notes that he lifted the front and back fins and "[found] it was shaped like a woman".

The mermaid was suspected to be a dugong in reality, even by contemporary scholars such as Georg Rumphius, although Valentijn was unable to believe they were the one and the same. Leading researcher Theodore W. Pietsch concurs with the dugong identification, but an ichthyologist has opined that "I could more easily accept a small oar-fish, or another eel-like fish, rather than a dugong as a partial basis for the drawing", noting that Renard's book carries an illustration of a plausibly realistic dugong as well.

### Qing dynasty China

The *Yuezhong jianwen* (Chinese: 粵中見聞; Wade–Giles: *Yueh-chung-chieh-wen*; "Seens and Heards", or "Jottings on the South of China", 1730) contains two accounts concerning mermaids. In the first, a man captures a mermaid (海女 "sea woman") on the shore of Lantau Island (Wade–Giles: *Taiyü-shan*). She looks human in every respect except that her body is covered with fine hair of many colors. She cannot talk, but he takes her home and marries her. After his death, the mermaid returns to the sea where she was found. In the second story, a man sees a woman lying on the beach while his ship was anchored offshore. On closer inspection, her feet and hands appear to be webbed. She is carried to the water, and expresses her gratitude toward the sailors before swimming away.

Women who dive for shellfish and seaweed wearing only loincloths, operating off reefs near the shore, perform for sightseers.

Divers wearing fake tails (some actually taken from mermaids) to perform for humans, while some try to capture mermaids rather than have fakes, most people are easily fooled and it is much cheaper and easier to have a fake.

Good thermoregulation, digestion? reproduction?

According to Dorothy Dinnerstein's book *The Mermaid and the Minotaur*, human-animal hybrids such as mermaids and minotaurs convey the emergent understanding of ancient peoples that humans were both one with and different from animals:

> [Human] nature is internally inconsistent, that our continuities with, and our differences from, the earth's other animals are mysterious and profound; and in these continuities, and these differences, lie both a sense of strangeness on earth and the possible key to a way of feeling at home here.
>
>

Arthur Rackham, Rhinemaidens, from *The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie* (1910).

An illustration of *Vanity Fair'*s Becky Sharp as a man-killing mermaid, by the work's author William Thackeray.

### Literature

The best-known example of mermaids in literature is probably Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid", first published in 1837. The title character, youngest of the Merman-king's daughters, falls in love with a human prince and also longs for an eternal soul like humans, despite the shorter lifespan. The two cravings are intertwined: only by achieving true love will her soul bind with a human's and become everlasting. But the mermaid's fish-tail poses an insurmountable obstacle for enticing humans, and a sea-witch offers a potion to transform into human form, at a price (the mermaid's tongue and beautiful voice). The mermaid endures the excruciating pain of having human legs, and despite her inability to speak, almost succeeds in wedding the prince, but for a twist of fate. The mermaid is doomed unless she stabs the prince with a magic knife on his wedding night. She refuses to harm him and dies the mermaid way, dissolving into foam. However, her selflessness has earned her a second chance at salvation, and she is resurrected as an air spirit.

*Undine*, an earlier German novella about a water nymph who could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human.

legends of Saint Senara and the mermaid of Zennor.

### Art and Music

Sculptures and statues of mermaids can be found in many countries and cultures, with over 130 public art mermaid statues across the world. Countries with public art mermaid sculptures include Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, India, China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), the United States (including Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and Canada. Some of these mermaid statues have become icons of their city or country, and are major tourist attractions in themselves. *The Little Mermaid* statue in Copenhagen is an icon of that city as well as of Denmark. The Havis Amanda statue symbolizes the rebirth of the city of Helsinki. The Syrenka (mermaid) is part of the coat of Arms of Warsaw, and is considered a protector of Warsaw, which publicly displays statues of their mermaid.

An influential image was created by the Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, from 1895 to 1905, entitled *A Mermaid* (Cf. figure, top of page). An example of late British Academy-style artwork, the piece debuted to considerable acclaim (and secured Waterhouse's place as a member of the Royal Academy), but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s. It is currently once again in the Royal Academy's collection. Waterhouse's mermaid grooms her hair with comb and mirror, the stereotypical implements of the mermaid, likely designed to portray her as temptress, and her red hair (auburn hair) is a match for the hair colour of Venus. Waterhouses's *The Siren* (1900) also depicts the siren as a mermaid of sorts, representing the *femme fatale*  drawing men to destruction. In the modern age of course, the word "siren" is used as a synonym of *femme fatale*.

Musical depictions of mermaids include those by Felix Mendelssohn in his *Fair Melusina* overture and the three "Rhine daughters" in Richard Wagner's opera *Der Ring des Nibelungen*. Lorelei, the name of a Rhine mermaid immortalized in the Heinrich Heine poem of that name, has become a synonym for a siren. *The Weeping Mermaid* is an orchestral piece by Taiwanese composer Fan-Long Ko.

### Motion pictures

Film depictions include *Miranda* (1948), *Night Tide* (1961), the romantic comedy *Splash* (1984), and *Aquamarine* (2006). A 1963 episode of the television series *Route 66* entitled "The Cruelest Sea of All" featured a mermaid performance artist working at Weeki Wachee aquatic park. Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television series *Charmed*, and were the basis of its spin-off series *Mermaid*. In *She Creature* (2001), two carnival workers abduct a mermaid in Ireland c. 1900 and attempt to transport her to America. The film *Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides* mixes old and new myths about mermaids: singing to sailors to lure them to their death, growing legs when taken onto dry land, and bestowing kisses with magical healing properties.

Hayao Miyazaki's *Ponyo* is an animated film about a ningyo who wants to become a human girl with the help of her human friend Sosuke.

A rare genetic defect is to have two tails, called a melusine, depending on where they are from they are either shunned and feared, or hailed as set for a special destiny and made leaders. Eloquent, vain.