Mermaid

A **mermaid** is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts.

The Norman chapel in Durham Castle, built around 1078 by Saxon stonemasons, has what is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England.[18] It can be seen on a south-facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars.[19]

Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky omens, both foretelling disaster and provoking it.[20] 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,[21] and some have been described as monstrous in size, up to 2,000 feet (610 m).[20]

Mermaids have also 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; a servant of his 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.[22] But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent; e.g., teaching humans cures for certain diseases.[23] Mermen have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids, with little interest in humans.[24]

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. At the Church of Saint Senara in Zennor, there is a famous chair decorated by a mermaid carving which is probably six hundred years old.[25]

Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative.[26] The figure of Lí Ban appears as a sanctified mermaid, but she was a human being transformed into a mermaid. After three centuries, when Christianity had come to Ireland, she was baptized.[27]The Irish mermaid is called merrow in tales such as "Lady of Gollerus" published in the 19th century. In Scottish mythology, a *ceasg* is a fresh-water mermaid, though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore.[28]

Mermaids from the Isle of Man, known as *ben-varrey*, are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions,[29] 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.

## Etymology

The word *mermaid* is a compound of the Old English *mere* (sea), and *maid* (a girl or young woman).[1] The equivalent term in Old English was *merewif*.[2] They are conventionally depicted as beautiful with long flowing hair.[1] As cited above, they are sometimes equated with the sirens of Greek mythology (especially the *Odyssey*), half-bird femmes fatales whose enchanting voices would lure soon-to-be-shipwrecked sailors to nearby rocks, sandbars or shoals.[3]