 A Crowned Merman, byArthur Rackham | |
| Creature information | |
|---|---|
| Grouping | Mythological |
| Sub grouping | Water spirit |
| Origin | |
| Country | Worldwide |
Amerman (pl.:mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical femalemermaid, is alegendary creature which ishuman from the waist up andfish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mermen are described as hideous and other times as handsome.
Perhaps the first recorded merman was theAssyrian-Babylonian sea-godEa (calledEnki by theSumerians), linked to the figure known to theGreeks asOannes.[1] However, while some popular writers have equated Oannes of the Greek period to the god Ea (and toDagon),[2][3] Oannes was rather one of theapkallu servants to Ea.[4]
Theapkallu have been described as "fish-men" in cuneiform texts, and ifBerossus is to be believed, Oannes was indeed a being possessed of a fish head and man's head beneath, and both a fish tail and manlike legs.[a][1][4] But Berossus was writing much later during the era of Greek rule, engaging in the "construction" of the past.[4] Thus even though figurines have been unearth to corroborate this fish-man iconography, these can be regarded as representing "human figures clad in fish cloaks",[4] rather than a being with a fish head growing above the human head. And the god Ea is also seen as depicted wearing a fish cloak by modern scholars.[5]
Triton ofGreek mythology was depicted as a half-man, half-fish merman inancient Greek art. Triton was the son of the sea-godPoseidon and sea-goddessAmphitrite. Neither Poseidon nor Amphitrite were merfolk, although both were able to live underwater as easily as on land.
Tritons later became generic mermen, so that multiple numbers of them were depicted in art.[6][7]
Tritons were also associated with using aconch shell in the laterHellenistic period.[8] In the 16th century, Triton was referred to as the "trumpeter ofNeptune (Neptuni tubicen)" inMarius Nizolius'sThesaurus (1551),[9][b] and this phrase has been used in modern commentary.[10] TheElizabethan period poetEdmund Spenser referred to Triton's "trompet" as well.[11]
Another notable merman from Greek mythology wasGlaucus. He was born a human and lived his early life as a fisherman. One day, while fishing, he saw that the fish he caught would jump from the grass and into the sea. He ate some of the grass, believing it to have magical properties, and felt an overwhelming desire to be in the sea. He jumped in the ocean and refused to go back on land. The sea gods nearby heard his prayers and transformed him into a sea god.Ovid describes the transformation of Glaucus in theMetamorphoses, describing him as a blue-green man with a fishy member where his legs had been.
A merman is calledmarmennill in Old Norse,[12] attested in theLadnámabók.[13][15] An early settler in Iceland (c. 11th century)[c] allegedly caught a merman while fishing, and the creature prophesied one thing: the man's son will gain possession of the piece of land where the mare Skálm chooses to "lie down under her load". In a subsequent fishing trip the man was drowned, survived by the boy who stayed behind.[d][13][12][16][17]
Thehafstrambr is a merman, described as a counterpart to the hideous mermaidmargýgr in theKonungs skuggsjá ("King's mirror",c. 1250). He is said to generally match her anthropomorphic appearance on the top half, though his lower half is said to have been never been seen.[18][19] In actuality, it may have been just a sea-mammal (hooded seal,Cystophora cristata),[20][21] or the phenomenon of some sea creature appearing magnified in size, caused by mid-rangemirage.[18]
Medieval Norsemen may have regarded thehafstrambr as the largest sorts of mermen, which would explain why the word formarmennill ('little mer-man') would be given in the diminutive.[22]
Other commentators treat thehafstrambr merely as an imaginary sea-monster.[23][24]
A twin-tailed merman is depicted on theBianco world map (1436).[25][26][e] A merman and a mermaid are shown on theBehaim globe (c. 1490–1493).[27]
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Konrad Gesner in his chapter onTriton inHistoria animalium IV (1558) gave the name of "sea-Pan" or "sea-satyr" (Latin:Pan- vel satyrus marinus) to an artist's image he obtained, which he said was that of an "ichthyocentaur" or "sea-devil".[28][f][29][30]
Gesner's sea-devil (German:Meerteufel) has been described by a modern commentator as having "the lower body of a fish and the upper body of a man, the head an horns of a buck-goat or the devil, and the breasts of a woman",[31] and lacks the horse-legs of a typicalcentaur. Gesner made reference to a passage whereAelian writes of satyrs that inhabitTaprobana's seas,[28] counted among the fishes andcete (Ancient Greek:κήτη,romanized: kḗtē, "sea monsters").[32][33]
This illustration was apparently ultimately based on a skeletal specimen andmummies.[30][g] Gesner explained that such a creature was placed on exhibit inRome on 3 November 1523.[33][28] Elsewhere in Gesner's book it is stated the "sea monster (monstrum marinum)" viewed on this same date was the size of a 5-year-old child.[34][h] It has been remarked in connection to this by one ichthyologist that mermen created by joining the monkey's upper body with a fish's lower extremity have been manufactured inChina for centuries;[33] and such merchandise may have been imported intoEurope by the likes of theDutch East India Company by this time[37] (cf.Bartholin's siren). Mummies (Feejee mermaids) were certainly being manufactured in Japan in some quantity by the 19th century or even earlier[38] (cf.§Hoaxes and sideshows).
The "sea-satyr[e]" appears inEdmund Spenser's poemThe Faerie Queene (1590), and glossed byFrancis J. Child as a type of "ichthyocentaur", on the authority of Gesner.[39]
Icelandic folklore beliefs speak of sea-dwelling humans (humanoids) known asmarbendlar (sing.marbendill),[40] which is the later Norse,[41][14] and modern Icelandic form ofmarmennill.[42][43]
Jón lærði Guðmundsson ('the Learned', d. 1658)'s writings concerning elves[i] includes the merman ormarbendill as a "water-elf". This merman is described as seal-like from the waist down.[44][45] Jón the Learned also wrote down a short tale or folktale concerning it,[46] which has been translated under the titles "The Merman"[47] and "Of Marbendill".[48]
Jón Árnasson, building on this classification, divided the water-elves into two groups: the male marbendill vs. the female known variously ashafgýgur, haffrú, margýgur, ormeyfiskur.[49] But in current times,hafmey is the common designation of the mermaid.[50] This gender classification however is not in alignment with the medieval source described above, which pairs the margýgr with the (hafstrambr).
According to Norwegian folklore dating back to the 18th century,havmand [no] takes the mermaid (havfrue) as wife, and the offspring or young they produce are calledmarmæler (sing.Norwegian:marmæle).[51][52]
Norwegian mermen (havmænd) were later ascribed the general characteristic that they are of "a dusky hue, with a long beard, black hair, and from the waist upwards resemble a man, but downwards are like a fish."[54][j]
While themarmæler does literally mean 'sea-talker',[57] the word is thought to be a corruption ofmarmenill, the aforementioned Old Norse term for merman.[22]
An allegedmarmennill prophesying to an early Icelandic settler has already been noted (cf.§Medieval period). In the story "The Merman", a capturedmarbendill laughs thrice, and when pressed, reveals to the peasant his insight (buried gold, wife's infidelity, dog's fidelity) on promise of release. The peasant finds wonderful gray milk-cows next to his property, which he presumes were the merman's gift; the unruly cows were made obedient by bursting the strange bladder or sac on their muzzle (with the stick he carried).[46][47][48]
In Sweden, the superstition of the merman (Swedish:hafsman) abducting a human girl to become his wife has been documented (Hälsingland, early 19th century); the merman's consort is said to be occasionally spotted sitting on a holme (small island), laundering her linen or combing her hair.[58]
There is a Swedishballad (Swedish:visa [sv]) entitled "Hafsmannen" about a merman abducting a girl; the Danish ballad "Rosmer Havmand" is a cognate ballad based on the same legend.[59][60]
"Agnete og Havmanden" is anotherScandinavian ballad work with this theme, but it is of late composition (late 18th century). It tells of a merman who had been mated to a human woman named Agnete; the merman unsuccessfully pleaded with her to come back to him andtheir children in the sea.[61]
English folkloristJacqueline Simpson surmises that as in Nordic (Scandinavian) countries, the original man-like water-dwellers ofEngland probably lacked fish-like tails.[62] A "wildman" caught in a fishnet, described byRalph of Coggeshall (c. 1210) was entirely man-like though he liked to eat raw fish and eventually returned to the sea.[62]Katharine Mary Briggs opined that the mermen are "often uglier and rougher in the British Isles".[63][k]
Mermen, which seldom frequentAmerican folklore, are supposedly depicted as less beautiful than mermaids.[65]
The Irishfakelore story of "The Soul Cages" features a malemerrow named Coomara, a hideous creature with green hair, teeth and skin, narrow eyes and a red nose. The tale was created byThomas Keightley, who lifted the plot from one of theGrimms' collected tales (Deutsche Sagen No. 25, "Der Wassermann und der Bauer" or "The Waterman and the Peasant").[64]
InCornish folklore into early modern times, theBucca, described as a lonely, mournful character with the skin of aconger eel and hair of seaweed, was still placated with votive offerings of fish left on the beach by fishermen.[66] Similarly vengefulwater spirits occur inBreton and Gaelic lore, which may relate to pre-Christian gods such asNechtan.
In China and in Japan, there are various accounts of "human-fish" (人魚, Chinese:rényú, Japanese:ningyo), and these presumably occurred in male forms also.
However, Chinese human-fish have been described (and illustrated) as resembling a catfish,[67] and not quite so human-like (cf.merfolk#Renyu or human-fish).[67]
Illustrated depictions of maleningyo do exist from the Edo Period (cf.Ningyo§Male ningyo). One example is the picture of male human-fish (男人魚,otoko ningyo) hand-copied by the young lord ofHirosaki Domain.[68] Another is the illustrated sheet ofkawaraban newspaper carrying news of the "ningyo from Holland" (阿蘭陀渡り人魚),[69][70] bearing the face of an old man.[71][73]
In China and Japan there are also accounts of the "sea human" (海人, Chinese:hairen, Japanese:kaijin), some of these accounts are of European origin.
A known description of thehairen occurs in a work in Chinese calledZhifang waiji (職方外紀), actually written by a European.[74] Here Ai Rulüe (Giulio Aleni) stated that there are two kinds ofhairen. The example of the first kind had a beard.[l][75][74]
The second type ofhairen described by Aleni was actually a female woman,[m] identifiable as theMermaid of Edam [nl] captured in 1403, with drooping skin, as if she were dressed in [apao袍 type of robe].[n][74][75]
Later, a Japanese source (Nagasaki bunkenroku) gave description of thekaijin encompassing features of both types: it had chin hair[o] as well as a skin flap around the waist similar to ahakama.[76][77] These trouser-likehakama was worn by men, as well as women in some cases.
An older (though perhaps lesser known) account ofhairen occurs in Shaozi orShao Yong's work calledCaomuzi (草木子), which describes the creature as having the shape of a (Buddhist) priest, though diminutive in stature.[78][79] It has been equated with theumibōzu ("sea-priest, sea acolyte priest")yōkai of Japan.[79]
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InFinnish mythology, avetehinen [fi], a type ofneck, is sometimes portrayed as a magical, powerful, bearded man with the tail of a fish. He can cure illnesses, liftcurses and brewpotions, but he can also cause unintended harm by becoming too curious about human life.
In theInuit folklore ofGreenland and northernCanada, theAuvekoejak is a furry merman.[80]
In an Italian folktale with medieval roots,Cola Pesce (Nicholas Fish) was a human boy until his mother cursed him to become part fish. As a merman, he occasionally assisted fishermen, but was summoned by a king who ordered him to explore the seabed and bring back items. Cola Pesce reluctantly went on the king's errands, only to disappear.[81]
Theboto (river dolphins) of theAmazon River regions of northernBrazil, is described according to local lore as taking the form of a human or merman, also known asencantado ("enchanted one" inPortuguese) and with the habit of seducing human women and impregnating them.[82]
In the folklore of theDogon ofMali, ancestral spirits calledNommo had humanoid upper torsos, legs and feet, and a fish-like lower torso and tail.[83]
Mermen or "tritons" see uncommon use in Britishheraldry, where they appear with the torso, head and arms of a man upon the tail of a fish. They are typically used assupporters, and are rarely used ascharges.[84]
A stuffed specimen of the merfolk was exhibited in London in 1822 was later billed "Fiji mermaid" byP.T. Barnum and put on display in theBarnum's American Museum, New York, in 1842.[85] Although billed as a "mermaid", this has also been bluntly referred to as a "Barnum's merman" in one piece of journalism.[86] This specimen was an example of fake mermaids posed in "The Scream" style, named afterEdvard Munch's painting; mermaids in this pose were commonly made in the late 18th and early 19th century in Japan.[38]
A similar fake "mermaid" at theHorniman Museum[87] has also been relabeled by another curator as a "merman",[88] where "mermen" or "feejee mermaids" are used as generic terms for such concocted mummies.[89] DNA testing was inconclusive as to species (and nothing on gender was disclosed), but despite being catalogued as a "Japanese Monkey-fish", it was determined to contain no monkey parts, but only the teeth, scales, etc. of fish.[88][90]
Another "merman" specimen supposedly found inBanff, Alberta, is displayed at the Indian Trading Post.[91] Other such "mermen", which may be composites of wood carvings, parts of monkeys and fish, are found in museums around the world; for example, at theBooth Museum in Brighton.[92]
Such fake mermaids handcrafted from monkeys and fish were being made in China and theMalay Archipelago, and imported by the Dutch since the mid-16th century, according to ichthyologistE. W. Gudger.[37][better source needed] Several natural history books published around this time (c. 1550s) carried entries on the mermaid-like monk-fish (sea monk) and the bishopfish (sea bishop), and Gudger suspected these were misinformation based on the aforementioned hoax mermaids from the East.[p][93]
Gudger also noted that the mermaid-like bishopfish could well be simulated by a dried specimen of a ray. A dried ray bears a vaguely anthropomorphic shape, and can be further manipulated to enhance its desired monstrous look. Such figures made ofsharks and rays eventually came to be known asJenny Hanivers in Great Britain.[94]
Matthew Arnold wrote a poem called "The Forsaken Merman" about a merman whose human wife abandoned him and their children.[95][96] Mermen may feature inscience fiction andfantasy literature.The Merman's Children by American writerPoul Anderson is inspired by the balladAgnete og Havmanden. Science fiction writerJoe Haldeman wrote two books onAttar the Merman in which genetically enhanced mermen can communicate telepathically with dolphins.Samuel R. Delany wrote the short storyDriftglass in which mermen are deliberately created surgically as amphibious human beings with gills,[97] while inJ. K. Rowling'sHarry Potter, a race of merpeople live in a lake outsideHogwarts.[98]
Mermen sometimes appear in modern comics, games, television shows and films. Although they were once depicted largely as being unattractive in some traditions as described in previous sections, in some modern works, mermen are portrayed as handsome, strong and brave. In the 1977–1978 television seriesMan from Atlantis, the merman as played byPatrick Duffy is described as a survivor fromAtlantis.[97] In theDC Comics mythology, mermen are a common fixture of theAquaman mythos, often showing a parochialistic rivalry with humanoid water-breathers. In theSupergirl comics of the 1960s, Supergirl had a relationship with a merman named Jerro, similar to Supermans relationship with mermaidLori Lemaris. The mermen ormerfolk also appear in theDungeons & Dragons game.[99] Three mermen are featured in the music video forMadonna's 1989 song "Cherish".[100]
The Australian TV seriesMako: Island of Secrets (2013–2016), a spin-off ofH2O: Just Add Water, includes a teenage boy named Zac (played byChai Hansen) who turns into a merman. The 2006 CG-animated filmBarbie: Mermaidia features a merman character named Prince Nalu.
The monster known as theGill-man from the filmCreature from the Black Lagoon could be seen as a modern adaptation of the merman myth.[101]
The earliest example is probably an unpublished "tutelary figure of Ea" made of lead and wearing a fish cloak, excavated at Nineveh
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{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help) (baekur.is)(in Icelandic){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)Mermen do appear within folklore, but are relatively uncommon in American lore. They are also said to be much less visually appealing than mermaids.
面光女のごとく頭紅毛有両手猿にて又水かき有其形蛇の如く四尺五寸あり
邵子曰。...尝闻海贾云。南海时有海人出。形如僧。人颇小。登舟而坐。至则戒舟人寂然不动。少顷复沈水。否则大风翻舟。
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