Infolklore, amermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish.[1] Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as storms,shipwrecks, and drownings (cf.§ Omens). In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same traditions), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans.
The male equivalent of the mermaid is themerman, also a familiar figure in folklore andheraldry. Although traditions about and reported sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are in folklore generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts. The male and the female collectively are sometimes referred to asmerfolk or merpeople.
The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by thesirens ofGreek mythology, which were originally half-birdlike, but came to be pictured as half-fishlike in the Christian era. Historical accounts of mermaids, such as those reported byChristopher Columbus during his exploration of theCaribbean, may have been sightings ofmanatees or similar aquatic mammals. While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside folklore, reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day.
Another English word "†mermin" (headword in theOED) for 'siren or mermaid' is older, though now obsolete.[3] It derives fromOld Englishmęremęnen, ad.męre 'sea' +męnen 'female slave',[3] earliest attestationmereminne, as a gloss for "siren", inCorpus Glossary (c. 725).[3]
A Middle English examplemereman in a bestiary (c. 1220?;[3] manuscript now dated to 1275–1300[4]) is indeed a 'mermaid', part maiden,[3] part fish-like.[5][a][6]
Old Norsemarmennill, -dill,masculine noun, is also listed as cognate to "†mermin", as well as ONmargmelli, modern Icelandicmarbendill, and modern Norwegianmarmæle.[3]
Merewif
Old Englishmęrewif is another related term,[2] and appears once in reference not so much to a mermaid but acertain sea hag,[22][23] and not well-attested later.[2][f]
Its MHG cognatemerwîp, also defined as "meerweib" in modern German[8] with perhaps "merwoman"[24] a valid English definition.[25] The word is attested, among other medieval epics, in theNibelungenlied,[26] and rendered "merwoman",[27] "mermaid", "water sprite", or other terms;[28] the two in the story[29] are translated as ONsjókonur ("sea-women").[28]
Origins
Thesiren ofAncient Greek mythology became conflated with mermaids during themedieval period. Some European Romance languages still usecognate terms forsiren to denote the mermaid, e.g., Frenchsirène and Spanish and Italiansirena.[30]
In the early Greek period, the sirens were conceived of as human-headed birds,[31][32] but by the classical period, the Greeks sporadically depicted the siren as part fish in art.[33][g]
The siren's part-fish appearance became increasingly popular during the Middle Ages.[35] The traits of the classical sirens, such as using their beautiful song as a lure as told by Homer, have often been transferred to mermaids.[40]
This change of the medieval siren from bird to fish were thought by some to be the influence ofTeutonic myth, later expounded in literary legends ofLorelei andUndine;[35] though a dissenting comment is that parallels are not limited to Teutonic culture.[41]
Textual attestations
The earliest text describing the siren as fish-tailed occurs in theLiber Monstrorum de diversis generibus (seventh to mid-eighth century), which described sirens as "sea girls" (marinaepullae) whose beauty in form and sweet song allure seafarers, but beneath the human head and torso, have thescaly tail-end of a fish with which they can navigate the sea.[43][45]
"Sirens are mermaids" (Old High German/EarlyMiddle High German:Sirêne sínt méremanniu) is explicit in the aforementioned Old GermanPhysiologus (eleventh century[46]).[10][48][h]
The Middle English bestiary (mid-13th century) clearly means "mermaid" when it explains the siren to be amereman,[3][49] stating that she has a body and breast like that of a maiden but joined, at the navel, by a body part which is definitely fish, with fins growing out of her.[5][50][6]
Old French verse bestiaries (e.g.Philipp de Thaun's version, written c. 1121–1139) also accommodated by stating that a part of the siren may be bird or fish.[51]
Iconographic attestations
In a ninth-centuryPhysiologus manufactured in France (Fig., top left),[38] the siren was illustrated as a "woman-fish", i.e., mermaid-like, despite being described as bird-like in the text.[53][54]
The Bodleian bestiary dated 1220–12 also pictures a group of fish-tailed mermaid-like sirens (Fig. bottom), contradicting its text which likens it to a winged fowl (volatilis habet figuram) down to their feet.[59]
In the interim, the siren as pure mermaid was becoming commonplace, particularly in the so-called "Second Family" Latin bestiaries, as represented in one of the early manuscripts classified into this group (Additional manuscript 11283, c. 1170–1180s. Fig., top right).[60]
Mirror and comb
While the siren holding a fish was a commonplace theme,[60] the siren in bestiaries were also sometimes depicted holding the comb,[61][63] or the mirror.[65]
The comb and mirror became a persistent symbol of the siren-mermaid.[66][67]
In the Christian moralizing context (e.g the bestiaries), the mermaid's mirror and comb were held as the symbol of vanity.[67][i]
Other Greek mythical figures
The sea-monstersScylla andCharybdis, who lived near the sirens, were also female and had some fishlike attributes. Though Scylla's violence is contrasted with the sirens' seductive ways by certain classical writers,[72] Scylla and Charybdis lived near the sirens' domain.[73][j] InEtruscan art before the sixth century BC, Scylla was portrayed as a mermaid-like creature with two tails.[73] This may be tied to images of two-tailed mermaids ranging from ancient times to modern depictions, and is sometimes attached to the later character ofMelusine.[76][77] A sporadic example of sirens as mermaids (tritonesses) in Early Greek art (third century BC), can be explained as the contamination of the siren myth with Scylla and Charybdis.[78]
The femaleOceanids,Nereids andNaiads are mythical water nymphs, although they were generally depicted without fish tails. "Nereid" and "nymph" have also been applied to actual mermaid-like marine creatures purported to exist, from Pliny (cf.§Roman Lusitania and Gaul) and onwards.Jane Ellen Harrison (1882) has speculated that the mermaids or tritonesses of Greek andRoman mythology may have been brought from theMiddle East, possibly transmitted byPhoenician mariners.[35]
The Greek godTriton had two fish tails instead of legs, and later became pluralized as a group. The prophetic sea deityGlaucus was also depicted with a fish tail and sometimes with fins for arms.
Ancient Middle Eastern mythology
Kulullû
Depictions of entities with the upper bodies of humans and the tails of fish appear inMesopotamian artwork from theOld Babylonian Period onwards, oncylinder seals. These figures are usually mermen (kulullû),[79] but mermaids do occasionally appear. The name for the mermaid figure may have been*kuliltu, meaning "fish-woman".[80] Such figures were used inNeo-Assyrian art as protective figures[80] and were shown in both monumental sculpture and in small, protective figurines.[80]
A mermaid-like goddess, identified by Greek and Roman writers as Derceto or Atargatis, was worshipped atAshkelon.[81][82] In a myth recounted byDiodorus Siculus in the first century BC, Derceto gave birth to a child from an affair. Ashamed, she abandoned the child in the desert and drowned herself in a lake, only to be transformed into a human-headed fish. The child,Semiramis, was fed by doves and survived to become a queen.[83]
In the second century,Lucian described seeing a Phoenician statue of Derceto with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish. He noted the contrast with the grand statue located at her Holy City (Hierapolis Bambyce), which appeared entirely human.[85][86]
In the myth, Semiramis's first husband is named Onnes. Some scholars have compared this to the earlier Mesopotamian myth ofOannes,[87] one of theapkallu or seven sages described as fish-men incuneiform texts.[88][91] While Oannes was a servant of the water deityEa, having gained wisdom from the god,[88] English writerArthur Waugh understood Oannes to be equivalent to Ea,[92] and proposed that surely "Oannes had a fish-tailed wife" and descendants,[93] with Atargatis being one deity thus descended, "through the mists of time".[93]
Diodorus's chronology of Queen Semiramis resembles the feats ofAlexander the Great (campaigns to India, etc.), and Diodorus may have woven the Macedonian king's material via some unnamed source.[83] There is a mermaid legend attached to Alexander the Great's sister, but this is of post-medieval vintage (seebelow).[94]
Sometime before 546 BC,Milesian philosopherAnaximander postulated that mankind had sprung from an aquatic animal species, a theory that is sometimes called theAquatic Ape Theory. He thought that humans, who begin life with prolongedinfancy, could not have survived otherwise.[95][96]
There are also naturalist theories on the origins of the mermaid, postulating they derive from sightings ofmanatees,dugongs or evenseals.[97][98]
Still another theory, tangentially related to the aforementionedAquatic Ape Theory, is that the mermaids of folklore were actually human women who trained over time to be skilleddivers for things likesponges, and spent a lot of time in the sea as a result. One proponent of this theory is British authorWilliam Bond, who has written several books about it.[99][100]
Medieval literature
Merwomen in Germanic literature
Nibelungenlied
Hagen unloads Nibelungen treasure where the Rhine mermaids await. Adventure 19.
Hagen with the prophetic mermaids, Hadeburg and Sigelind. Adventure 25.
They are calledsjókonar ("sea women") in the Old NorseÞiđreks saga.[28] There is aswan maiden tale motif[104] involved here (Hagen robs their clothing), but Grimm argued they must have actually been swan maidens, since they are described as hovering above water.[105]
In any case, this brief segment became the "foundational" groundwork of subsequentwater-nix lore and literature that developed in the Germanic sphere.[104]
Middle High Germanmereminne 'mermaid' is mentioned, among other epics, in theRabenschlacht[11][108] ("Battle of Ravenna", 13th cent.) of the Dietrich cycle. The mermaid (orundine[17]) is named Wâchilt and is the ancestress[l] of the traitorousWittich who carries him off at the time of peril to her "submarine home".[17][21][14]
This material has been found translated as a medievalÞiðreks saga only in a late, reworked Swedish version,[14] i.e., one of the closing chapters ofÐiðriks saga (fifteenth century,[15] also known as the "Swedish epilogue"[109]).[110][16] The mermaid/undine is here translated as Old Swedishhaffru.[15]
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 orWitige),[19][113][14][21][13] who became a companion/champion of King Þiðrekr (Dietrich von Bern).
Thus the saga is an early source which associates a famed clan of merfolk with a place in Denmark, i.e., Sjælland. Sjælland was the divided portion of Villcina-land inherited by the bastard prince Vaði/Wade according to the saga.[114] The Swedish epilogue transposed the locations concerning the battle (from Italy to Germany), and claimed the rescued Viðga/Witige was brought to Sjælland. That is to say, the crucial battle had been in Ravenna, Northern Italy in the German epicRabenschlacht), but the battle spot was changed to Gronsport, somewhere on theMoselle, in Northern Germany in the Swedish version.[115][116][16]
Folklore of Britain and Ireland
TheNorman chapel inDurham Castle, built around 1078, has what is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England.[117] It can be seen on a south-facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars.[118]
Mermaids appear in British folklore as unluckyomens, both foretelling disaster and provoking it.[119] Several variants of theballadSir 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,[120] and some have been described as monstrous in size, up to 2,000 feet (610 m).[119]
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.[121] In "The Mermaid" (Child ballad 289),[122] her sighting forebodes a vessel's deadly shipwreck.[123]
Mermaids have been described as able to swim up rivers tofreshwater lakes. In one story, theLaird 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.[124] But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent; e.g., teaching humans cures for certain diseases.[125]Mermen have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids, with little interest in humans.[126]
According to legend a mermaid came to theCornish village ofZennor, where she used to listen to the singing of a chorister, Matthew Trewhella.[127] The two fell in love, and Matthew went with the mermaid to her home atPendour Cove. On summer nights, the lovers can be heard singing together. The legend, recorded by folkloristWilliam Bottrell, stems from a fifteenth-century mermaid carving on a wooden bench at theChurch of Saint Senara in Zennor.[70][128]
Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative.[129]
InScottish mythology, aceasg is a freshwater mermaid, though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore.[130]
Mermaids from theIsle of Man, known asben-varrey, are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions,[131] 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.[131]
In Irish lore,Lí Ban was a human being transformed into a mermaid. After three centuries, when Christianity came toIreland, she was baptized.[132] The Irish mermaid is calledmerrow in tales such as "Lady of Gollerus" published in the nineteenth century.
As a side-note, a supposed Old Norsehaffrú is the etymological source ofNorman Frenchhavette for a man-snatching water-sprite, according to one linguist.[136][n]
An early description of theHavfrue, and her mateHavmand, was given by theDanishBishop Pontoppidan (1753).[138][139] They were considered the mating female and male of the creature, inhabiting theNorth Sea,[140][141] and their offspring was calledmarmæle (var.marmæte),[142][143] as repeated by later commentators.[144][145]
Though he was aware of fabulous fables being told about them,[o][146][141] he was convinced such creature existed. But as they were non-human, he argued the termHavmand (merman) should be avoided, in favor of some coined term such assea-ape (Danish:hav-abe).[p][147][148] He also knowingly employedOld Norwegian/Old Norsemaryge [sic.] andhafstrambe [sic.][q] as the Norwegian names of the mermaid and merman respectively.[149][150]
Havfrue cognates
The Icelandic cognate form ishaffrú with several synonyms,[r][151][152] though instead of these the commonly used term today ishafmey.[153]
The Faroese forms arehavfrúgv (havfrúg).[154][155] The Swedish form ishafsfru,[156] with other synonyms such assjöjungfru,[155][s] orsjörå[156] ('sea-fairy', the maritime counterpart of the forestskogsrå).[158]
Other aliases
The termsmargýgur orhavgýgur as aliases for mermaid were apparently current among the populace in modern-age Iceland, according toJón Árnason[159][151][152] alongside themarbendill (modern Icelandic for ONmarmennill)[160]
Benjamin Thorpe (1851) writing on Norwegian folklore gavemargygr for mermaid (andmarmennill for merman) as Norwegian folk terms,[145][t] but these are interpolations, which the source,Andreas Faye'sNorske sagn (1833),[161] only side-noted as occurrences of old terms in medieval literature.[162]
General characteristics
The beautifulhavfrue 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.[163]
It is said thehavfrue 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 thegunwale. She caused a storm that nearly drowned the wicked sailor.[164]
Omen, prophecy and wisdom
The appearance/sighting alone betides an impending storm.[163] Norwegians do not wish to see the havfrue, as she heralds storm or bad weather (Norway).[165][145] The appearance of thesjörå forebodes a storm or poor catch in Swedish tradition, much as the appearance of theskogsrå (wood-nymph) presages poor catch for the hunter.[163][158] According to the superstitions of Swedish fishermen, if one saw asjörå who was harbinger of tempest and bad catch, one should not tell his comrades but strike flint against steel to light a spark.[158]
In other cases the Scandinavian mermaid is considered to be prophetic.[163]
The tale type "The Mermaid's Message" (Norwegian:Havfruas spådom, ML 4060) is recognized as aMigratory Legend [no], i.e., a group of tales found in Scandinavia with parallels found elsewhere, according to the scheme devised byReidar Thoralf Christiansen.[166] 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 aflail, 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.[167]
Merfolk as abductors
The Swedish ballad "Hafsfrun"[168] (≈Havsfruns tärna [sv],SMB 23, TSB A 51[169]) 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[u] her neck if she knew she would be thus betrayed.[171] The Swedish merman Hafsman[nen] steals a human woman to become his bride according to folklore.[172][v]
Marmaele
As aforementioned, the mermaid (Norwegian:havfrue) takes the merman (Norwegian:havmand) for husband, and produce children calledmarmæler (sing.Norwegian:marmæle, "sea-talkers"), which the fishermen sometimes bring home to gain insight into the future.[174]
Early sources say that Norwegian fishermen who capture themarmæte ormarmæle 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.[175]
Margýgr
Jón Árnason describes themargýgur as yellow-haired woman who is fish from the waist down, who drags careless seamen to the depths of the sea.[151][152]
However,margygr literally means something like "mer-troll",[152] and in medieval tradition, themargygr is more of a "sea monster"[177] or "sea-ogress".[178][181]
According to a version of theSaga of St. Olaf (Olaf II of Norway) the king encountered amargygr whose singing lulled voyagers to sleep causing them to drown[145][182] and whose high-pitched shrieks drove men insane.[177][182] 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".[182][180] Thismargygr was also said to be furry like a seal, and gray-colored.[182][179]
Western European folklore
Raymond discovers Melusine in her bath,Jean d'Arras,Le livre de Mélusine, 1478.
Melusine is a mermaid-like character fromEuropean folklore, cursed to take the form of aserpent from the waist down. Later depictions sometimes changed this to a fish tail.[183] At some point, possibly in the late nineteenth century, her name became attached to the two-tailed mermaid of heraldry.[77]
The conception of thesiren as both a mermaid-like creature and part bird-like persisted inByzantine Greece for some time.[187] ThePhysiologus began switching the illustration of the siren as that a mermaid, as in a version dated to the ninth century.[75] The tenth century Byzantine Greek dictionarySuda still favored the avian description.[188][189]
There is a modern Greek legend thatAlexander the Great's sisterThessalonike turned into a mermaid (Greek:γοργόνα) after her death, living in theAegean. 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").[94] 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.[190] This legend derives from an Alexander romance entitled thePhylláda tou Megaléxandrou (Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου) dating to theOttoman Greece period,[94] first printed in 1680.[191]
Rusalkas are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sirens andnaiads, often seducing sailors to their doom.[192][193] The nature of rusalkas varies among folk traditions, but according to ethnologistD.K. Zelenin they all share a common element: they are the restless spirits of the unclean dead.[193] 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 andBelarus, and was emphasized by nineteenth-century Russian authors.[194][195][196][197] The best-known of the great Czech nationalist composerAntonín Dvořák's operas isRusalka.
Amerfolk race called theDi people [zh] are described as populating its own nation in theShanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) compilation of Chinese geography and mythology, dating from the fourth century BC.[199][200] The ancient work also included several types of human-headed fish, such as thechiru [zh] or "red ru fish";[201][200] as well as creature with some humanlike qualities like therenyu (人魚) or "human-fish".[202][200]
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 thehairenyu [ja](海人魚; literally "sea human fish"), given in theTaiping guangji compilation, sourced from the work entitledQiawenji (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 multicoloreddowny hair (orpeach fuzz), and legless. The male and female had sexual organs like humans, so thatwidows andwidowers would keep them in their ponds, and the creatures could performsexual intercourse normally as a human would.[203][204][x]
An anecdote considered relevant[207] concerns arenyu ("human fish") allegedly seen by the ship carrying Zha Dao (査道), and emissary to Korea. She had an 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 arenyu, adept at copulating with humans, and was a type of human dwelling in the sea. The anecdote in the lostCuyiji ("Records of Bygone Extraordinay Things") from theNorthern Song period,[208][207][209] survives in quotes, e.g., fromleishu compilationGujin tushu jicheng (古今圖書集成 "Comprehensive Compendium of Illustrations and Books, Ancient and Modern").[210]
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[specify], saved four captured mermaids from a fisherman, as recorded in theEou yadam (unofficial histories).[211] InDongabaek Island ofBusan is a tale of Princess Hwang-ok from Naranda, a mythical undersea kingdom of mermaids; this tale is based on the historicalHeo Hwang-ok fromIndia.[212] Another tale concerns a mermaid named Sinjike (Korean:신지끼) who warned fishermen of impending storms by singing and throwing rocks into the sea fromGeomun Island. The island's residents believed her to be a goddess of the sea and that she could predict the weather.[213]
"Ningyo no zu": A flier of a mermaid, dated fifth month of Bunka 2 (1805).
The Japanese equivalent is ningyo (人魚, literally "human-fish"[214]). 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.[215]
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).[214]
Ningyo flesh
Theningyo's flesh was purported to be an elixir, and consuming its flesh said to bestow remarkable longevity.
A famousningyo legend concerns theYao 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,[216] but merely a "strange fish with a human face" in another.[217]
As yōkai
Aningyo might be counted as ayōkai since it is included inToriyama Sekien'sHyakki Yagyō series.[218] Gender is unclear, as it is only described as a being with "a human face, a fish body". However, Sekien'sningyo picture actually represents a "human-fish" that lives in Western China, also known as the Di peopleDiren [zh], according to the inscription printed alongside.[218] They are described in theClassic of Mountains and Seas and translated as the "Low People"[219][220] or the "Di People".[199]
InCambodia, she is referred as Sovanna Maccha, a favorite for Cambodian audiences.[223]
Indonesia
In theJavanese culture ofIndonesia,Nyai Roro Kidul is a sea goddess and the Queen of the Southern Seas; the mermaid queen is said to inhabit the southern beach inJava.[224] She has many forms; in her mermaid form, she is called Nyai Blorong.[225]
In thePhilippines, mermaid concepts differ per ethnic group. Among thePangasinense, the Binalatongan mermaid is a Queen of the sea who married the mortal Maginoo Palasipas and ruled humanity for a time.[228] Among theIlocano, mermaids were said to have propagated and spread through the union of the first Serena and the first Litao, a water god.[228] Among theBicolano, mermaids were referred as Magindara, known for their beautiful voice and vicious nature.[229] Among theSambal, mermaids called Mambubuno are depicted as having two fins, instead of one.
In the folktale "Mermaid" (Cebuano language:Ang Kataw) localized inCebu andBohol Provinces, a couple named Juan and Juana is about to have a daughter, but the pregnant wife has a constant craving formilkfish (Cebuano:awa). One day his fishing caught nothing, but met a talking milkfish wearing a crown, the "King of the Fishes" (Cebuano:harisamga) who offered to give him plenty every day, in exchange for the taking the child later, at 7 years of age. She was eventually swept away by the waves, and presumed lost to the king. The parents, hoping to see her again on the beach did so finally, on a moonlit night, witnessed a black haired woman with the body of a milkfish, whom they knew was Maria.[231]
New Zealand
Mermaids andmermen are characters in the myth of"Pania of the Reef", a well-known tale ofMāori mythology, which has many parallels with stories of sea-people in other parts of the world.
Among theShona ofZimbabwe, njuzu are mermaid-like spirits.[234] Thejengu, also known as the "Itongo" (Sea Queen), of Cameroon is sometimes depicted as half woman and half fish.[235]
Arabian folklore
One Thousand and One Nights
TheOne 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".[236] 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", theprotagonist 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 ofprimitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. In "The Adventures of Bulukiya", the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for theherb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, where he encounters societies of mermaids.[236]
Americas folklore
TheNeo-Taíno nations of theCaribbean identify a mermaid calledAycayia[237][238] with attributes of the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua treeHibiscus tiliaceus.[239] In modern Caribbean culture, there are a number of mermaids that are derived from West African originals and taken by slaves. These include Watramama in Suriname and Guyana, Mamadjo in Grenada, Yemanya or Yemaya in Brazil and Cuba, Erzulie in Haiti), and Lamanté in Martinique.[240] There is a mermaid recognized as aHaitianvodouloa calledLasirèn (from the FrenchFrench:la siréne, "the mermaid"), representing wealth, beauty and romance, but also the possibility of death.[241]
Iara and Ipupiara
In Brazilian folklore, theiara, also known asmãe-d'agua ("lady/mother of the water") is a water-dwelling beauty whom fishermen are prone to fall prey to.[242][243] According to eighteenth-century sources, she is a long-haired woman who enchant men by night, and those who scucumb die, "drowned by passion".[244] Folklore also blamed disappearances of men on the Iara who lured them singing in the indigenous language.[244]
The ascribed hair and eye color differs depends on the tradition in various regions.[245] According to the tale of the Manaus tribe youth Jaguarari and the Yara, she has hair of the color of thepau d'arco tree's flowers[y] (var. green hair) and pink skin,[249] while she is black-haired according to some.[245][247] Other commentators insist Iara is a "beautiful white woman who lives in a river",[250] reputedly golden-haired,[243] and blue-eyed[251] though the blond, blue-eyed image was not attested until after the mid-nineteenth century, to the best knowledge ofCamara Cascudo.[z][252] Cascudo in his earlier writing contended that though the Iara was rooted in two indigenous beings, the water-devil Ipupiara (cf. below) and theCobra-Grande, he also saw the combining of the Portuguese lore of theEnchanted Moura (moorish girl), who was obviously dark-skinned.[253][aa] The Iara became increasingly to be regarded as a woman-fish, after the image of the European sirens/mermaids.[254][255]
It is often argued that the legends of the Iara developed around the eighteenth century out of the indigenous myth of theIpupiara [pt] among theTupinambá 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.[242] European writers during the age of exploration disseminated the myth, but theGandavo [pt] (1576)[ab] included an illustration of "Hipupiàra" with female breasts. Subsequently the JesuitCardim [pt][ac] wrote that the "Igpupiàra" also consisted of females that look like women with long hair.[256] Though somewhat vague in the case of Gandavo, Cardim had clearly injected Christian opinion which would readily relegate the role of emasculating men to the female kind.[257] Later with the introduction of African slaves, theYoruba myth ofIemanjá was admixed into the telling.[242]
Alamoa
The Alamoa is a well known legend in the island ofFernando de Noronha, northeast of the Brazilian mainland. An alluring half-naked woman, she who would seduced men by night, and the charmed lovers who followed her end up falling off the island cliff, off Pico hill.[258][259] Again, modern commentary paints her as a "beautiful white woman (linda mulher branca)",[259] which would be consistent with the name Alamoa being an older form ofalemão, which now means "blonde, fair-skinned woman"[ad][261] whereas older literature describes her asfulvous ortawny (fulva), though dressed in white, as according toFrancisco Augusto Pereira da Costa [pt] (d. 1923).[262][264] According to one telling, on Friday nights, the rock of Pico splits and emits a light beam, followed by Alamoa's appearance, attracting men; but she will then transform into skull and skeleton,[265] resulting in disappearances, except cries of terror can be occasionally heard.[267] The Alamoa evidently maintains an underwater palace as well.[268] These elements (skull, light, palace) are lacking in European (Dutch) lore,[268] though general similarity to Holland's mermaid has been suggested.[269]
Reported sightings
Roman Lusitania and Gaul
In hisNatural History 9.4.9–11,Pliny the Elder, remarked that a triton (merman) was seen off the coast ofOlisipo (present-dayLisbon, Portugal),[270] 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.[273] Their mournful songs at death have also been heard by the coastal inhabitants. Also, multiple nereids had washed up on the shore according to the legatus/governor ofGaul, who informed the lateEmperor Augustus about it in a letter.[270][275][272][ae]
Sixteenth-century Swedish writerOlaus 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 ofsea-nymphs[276] and thesister Fates whose clashing cymbals and flute tunes could be heard on shore.[277][278][276] Olaus in a later passage states that the nereids (tr. "mermaids") are known to "sing plaintively",[279][280] in general.[af]
It has been conjectured that these carcasses of nereids washed up on shore were "presumably seals".[270][282]
Age of Exploration Americas and polar frontiers
In 1493, sailing off the coast ofHispaniola,Christopher Columbus spotted three mermaids (Spanish:sirenas) which he said were not as beautiful as they are represented due to masculine features in their faces. He is widely believed to have seenmanatees, not mermaids.[283][284]
Dutch explorer David Danell during his expeditions toGreenland in 1652–54 claimed to have spotted a mermaid with "flowing hair and very beautiful", though the crew failed to capture it.[286]
Colonial Brazil
Bartholin's siren (1654). The bones of the "hand" in the drawings on the right correspond to the flipper of a manatee.
Danish physician and natural historianThomas Bartholin wrote about a mermaid specimen caught in Brazil (probably a manatee[287]) and subsequently dissected at Leiden.[288][290] 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).[291][289] The specimen's body was deformed and "without the sign of a tail",[292] matching the drawing. And "a membrane [that] join [the fingers] together"[292] is also reflected in the drawing as well (as her webbed pair of hands/forepaws).[291][ag]
The specimen's account and illustration was later reproduced by Linnaeus, who captioned the beast "Siren Bartholini",[293][294] 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).[295][ah] Based on the illustration, the "hand" has been determined to be the front flipper belonging to a manatee by a team of researchers.[287]
Bartholin himself had argued that it was a sea mammal closely related to seals (phocae).[292][288][ai] His rationale was that since there are several marine counterparts to land mammals e.g. "sea-horses",[aj] the possibility of a marine creature with striking likeness to humans could not be ruled out,[289] though they should all be classified among seal-kind.[292]
Erasmus Francisci (Erasmus Finx, 1668) associated this Brazilian specimen with the local native lore of the "Yupiapra" (Ipupiara).[ak][296][297]
Colonial Southeast Asia
Seventeenth-century Visayas
Anthropomorphos
―Johannes JonstonHistoria naturalis in Latin, 1657[298]
A type of mermaid referred to as "anthropomorphus"[299] or "woman-fish" (Spanish:peche mujer[300]) allegedly inhabited the Spanish-ruledPhilippines, particularly in the waters around theVisayan Islands, according to contemporary writings from the seventeenth century.[309]
The accounts are found in several books, on various topics from magnetism, to natural history, to ecclesiastical history.[310]
These books refer to the mermaid/merman as "piscis anthropomorphos" (Dutch:Anthropomorphus),[al] 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.[301][299]
The "woman-fish" (orpeche mujer in modern Spanish[300])[am]) was the name given to the creature among the Spaniards, but the sources also state it was called "duyon" by the indigenous people.[301][298][an] and it is assumed the actual creature was a dugong (according to modern translators' notes).[308][312][ao]
Several of these sources mention the medical use of the woman-fish to control the flow of blood (or thefour humours). It was effective for staunching the bleeding, i.e., effective against hemorrhages, according to Jonston.[315] Other sources mention the ability to stop bleeding, e.g. Colín,[316] who also thought that the Philippine woman-fish tasted like fatty pork.[317] The bones were made into beads (i.e., strung together), as it was believed effective againstdefluxions (of the humours).[318]
―Louis RenardPoissons, ecrevisses et crabes.. autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes, 2nd edition, 1754[320]
A dugong (ditto book)
Allegedly captured in the Moluccas in the seventeenth century was the so-called "Amboina mermaid" (after the then DutchProvince of Ambon),[321][ap] 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.[323]
The painting was reproduced by Louis Renard on the "Fish" of the region, first published in 1719,[328]
It was supposedly caught by Boeren in Ambon Province (Buru, in present-dayMaluku Province),[329] presumably around the years 1706–1712,[327] or perhaps the year 1712 precisely.[331] 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).[332]
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,[331][324] or issuing sounds like screechings of a mouse (French:souris).[320] Something like a straw cape (Japanesemino) appears wrapped around her waist in the painting according to one commentator,[336] but Fallours revealed in his notes that he lifted the front and back fins and "[found] it was shaped like a woman".[337]
The mermaid was suspected to be a dugong in reality, even by contemporary scholars such asGeorg Rumphius, although Valentijn was unable to believe they were the one and the same.[338] Leading researcher Theodore W. Pietsch[as] 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.[324]
Qing dynasty China
TheYuezhong 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 ofLantau 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.[339][340]
U.S. and Canada
Two sightings were reported in Canada nearVancouver andVictoria, one from sometime between 1870 and 1890, the other from 1967.[341][342] A Pennsylvania fisherman reported five sightings of a mermaid in theSusquehanna River nearMarietta in June 1881.[343]
In August 2009, after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out ofHaifa Bay waters and doing aerial tricks, the Israeli coastal town ofKiryat Yam offered a $1 million award for proof of its existence.[344]
In February 2012, work on two reservoirs nearGokwe andMutare in Zimbabwe stopped when workers refused to continue, stating that mermaids had hounded them away from the sites. It was reported bySamuel Sipepa Nkomo, the water resources minister.[345]
A celebrated example of mermaid hoax was theFiji mermaid exhibited in London in 1822[at] and later in America byP. T. Barnum in 1842;[au][349] in this case an investigator claims to have traced the mermaid's manufacture to a Japanese fisherman.[350]
An allegedningyo or merman/mermaid specimen (side view)―Baien's sketch (1825)
Fake mermaids made in China and theMalay Archipelago out of monkey and fish parts were imported into Europe by Dutch traders since the mid-sixteenth century, and their manufactures are thought to go back earlier.[351] The manufacture of mermaids from monkey and fish parts also occurred in Japan, especially in the Kyūshū region,[352] as a souvenir industry targeting foreigners.[353][av]Mōri Baien painted full color illustrations of such a compositely manufacturedningyo specimen in his ichthyological tract (1825).[353][355] For much of the Edo Period,Nagasaki (in Kyūshū) was the only trade port open to foreign countries, and the only place where non-Japanese aliens could reside.Jan Cock Blomhoff, theDutch East India Company director stationed inDejima, Nagasaki is known to have acquired merfolk mummies; these and other specimens are now held in theNational Museum of Ethnology inLeiden, Netherlands.[356][357][358]
The equivalent industry in Europe was theJenny Haniver made from dried rays.[359]
In the middle of the seventeenth century,John Tradescant the elder created awunderkammer (called Tradescant's Ark) in which he displayed, among other things, a "mermaid's hand".[360]
Mermaid shows
Scantily clad women placed in watertanks and impersonating mermaids performed at the1939 New York World's Fair. It was part of the "Dream of Venus" installation bySurrealist artistSalvador Dalí. The mermaid interacted with Oscar the Obscene Octopus, and the ongoings were portrayed inE. L. Doctorow's novelWorld's Fair.[361]
Professional female divers have performed as mermaids at Florida'sWeeki Wachee Springs since 1947. The state park calls itself "The Only City of Live Mermaids"[362] and was extremely popular in the 1960s, drawing almost one million tourists per year.[363] Most of the current performers work part-time while attending college, and all are certifiedScuba divers. They wear fabric tails and perform aquaticballet (while holding their breath) for an audience in an underwater stage with glass walls. Children often ask if the "mermaids" are real. The park's PR director says, "Just like withSanta Claus or any other mythical character, we always say yes. We're not going to tell them they're not real".[364]
TheAma are Japanese skin divers, predominantly women, who traditionally dive forshellfish andseaweed wearing only a loincloth and who have been in action for at least 2,000 years.[365] Starting in the twentieth century, they have increasingly been regarded as a tourist attraction. They operate offreefs near the shore, and some perform for sightseers instead of diving to collect a harvest. They have been romanticized as mermaids.[366]
Scientific inquiry
The topic of mermaids in earnest has arisen in several instances of scientific scrutiny, including a biological assessment of the unlikelihood of the supposed evolutionary biology of the mermaid on the popularmarine science websiteDeepSeaNews. Five of the primary reasons listed as to why mermaids do not fit current evolutionary understanding are:
Mermaids were also discussedtongue-in-cheek in a scientific article byUniversity of Washington emeritus oceanographerKarl Banse.[368] His article was written as a parody,[369] but mistaken as a true scientific exposé by believers as it was published in a scientific journal.
Omens
The mermaid is a harbinger of shipwreck in English-Scottish balladry, though the attestation (Child ballad 289[122]), dates no older than the 18th century. No analogues were found by Child outside the English language, though versions were transmitted to America.[123]
According toDorothy Dinnerstein's bookThe Mermaid and the Minotaur, human-animal hybrids such as mermaids andminotaurs 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.[374]
The best-known example of mermaids in literature is probably Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid", first published in 1837.[184] The title character, youngest of the Merman-king's daughters, falls in love with a human prince[aw] and also longs for an eternalsoul 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.[ax] 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.[375]
Andersen's works has been translated into over 100 languages.[376] One of the main literary influences for Andersen's mermaid wasUndine, an earlier German novella about a water nymph who could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human.[377] Andersen's heroine inspired a bronze sculpture inCopenhagen harbour and influenced Western literary works such asOscar Wilde'sThe Fisherman and His Soul andH. G. Wells'The Sea Lady.[378]
Sculptures and statues of mermaids can be found in many countries and cultures, with over 130public 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.[379] 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. TheHavis Amanda statue symbolizes the rebirth of the city ofHelsinki. The Syrenka (mermaid) is part of thecoat of Arms of Warsaw, and is considered a protector ofWarsaw, which publicly displays statues of their mermaid.
An influential image was created by thePre-Raphaelite painterJohn William Waterhouse, from 1895 to 1905, entitledA 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 theRoyal 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.[380] Waterhouse's mermaid grooms her hair with comb and mirror, the stereotypical implements of the mermaid, likely designed to portray her astemptress,[381] and her red hair (auburn hair[381]) is a match for the hair colour of Venus.[382][ay] Waterhouses'sThe Siren (1900) also depicts the siren as a mermaid of sorts, representing thefemme fatale[383] drawing men to destruction. In the modern age of course, the word "siren" is used as a synonym offemme fatale.[382]
Mermaids were a favorite subject ofJohn Reinhard Weguelin, a contemporary of Waterhouse. He painted an image of the mermaid of Zennor as well as several other depictions of mermaids in watercolour.
Film depictions includeMiranda (1948),Night Tide (1961), the romantic comedySplash (1984), andAquamarine (2006). A 1963 episode of the television seriesRoute 66 entitled "The Cruelest Sea of All" featured a mermaid performance artist working atWeeki Wachee aquatic park. Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television seriesCharmed. InShe Creature (2001), two carnival workers abduct a mermaid in Irelandc. 1900 and attempt to transport her to America. The filmPirates 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.
Disney's musical animated version of Andersen's tale,The Little Mermaid, was released in 1989.[385][386] Notable changes to Andersen's story include removing the religious aspects of the fairy tale, including the mermaid's quest to obtain an immortal soul. The sea-witch herself replaces the princess to whom the prince becomes engaged, using the mermaid's voice to prevent her from obtaining the prince's love. However, on their wedding day the plot is revealed and the sea-witch is vanquished. The knife motif is not used in the film, which ends with the mermaid and the prince marrying.[387]
Hayao Miyazaki'sPonyo is an animated film about aningyo who wants to become a human girl with the help of her human friend Sosuke.
Inheraldry, the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror,[388][389] andblazoned as a "mermaid in her vanity".[390] In addition to vanity, mermaids are also a symbol of eloquence.[391]
Mermaids appear with greater frequency as heraldic devices than mermen do. A merman and a mermaid are depicted on the coat of arms ofSchouwen-Duiveland. A mermaid appears on the arms of theUniversity of Birmingham, in addition to those of several British families.[389]
A mermaid with two tails is referred to as amelusine. Melusines appear in German heraldry, and less frequently in the British version.[389]
A shield and sword-wielding mermaid (Syrenka) is on the officialcoat of arms of Warsaw.[392] Images of a mermaid have symbolized Warsaw on its arms since the middle of the fourteenth century.[393] Several legends associateTriton of Greek mythology with the city, which may have been the origin of the mermaid's association.[394]
TheCusack family crest includes a mermaid wielding a sword, as depicted on a memorial stone for SirThomas Cusack (1490–1571).[395]
Interest in mermaid costuming has grown with the popularity of fantasycosplay, as well as the availability of inexpensivemonofins used in the construction of these costumes. The costumes are typically designed to be used while swimming, in an activity known asmermaiding. Mermaidfandom conventions have also been held.[398][399]
^And despite the misleading spelling not a variant of "merman" (first used seventeenh century)[3]
^The word occurs variously as OHGmerimenni, merimeni, meriminni, meriminnun, meriminna, merminno.[7] Schade's dictionary uses OHG "meremanni" as headword.[8]
^They are glosses tosirenes atIsiah 13:21 where Hebrewya'anah (יִעֲנָה), mod. Eng. bibl. tr. "ostriches" was translated as sirens by the Septuagint and Vulgate.[7]
^She is Wâchilt, whose great-grandson (German:Urenkel) is Wittich.[12] In other words she isVelent/Wieland's grandmother.[13] or "Wittich's father's father's mother",[14] in theDietrich Cycle.
^She is deemed an 'undine' by one modern commentator.[17]
^That is, the OED's entry for gave "cf. OEmęrewif andMermin [in small capitals]", meaning there is an entry for the latter but not the former.
^TheMegarian bowl, third century BC, with a scene from theOdyssey, with sirens depicted as fish-tailed "tritonesses".[34] Harrison names a clay lamp, possibly from the Roman period.[35][36] Aterracotta "mourning siren", 250 BC, is the oldest representation of siren as mermaid familiar to Waugh.[37]
^But upon reflection, since the OHG word only means "sea-woman", it is not assured that a fish-tailed being is meant.
^In the bestiaries. And that is generally accepted to be the intended symbolism in ecclesiastical art, such as church carvings of mermaids,[37][68] but this church view has been derided as misogynistic from a modern perspective,[69] and it has been noted that the mirror and comb were originally the accoutrements of the love goddess Venus in Classical Times.[70][71]
^InThe Odyssey, afterOdysseus' encounter with the sirens, he headed for the place where Scylla and Charybdis dwelled.[74]
^But perhaps not too far from the meadows opposite the Rhine River where they pitched camp in an earlier passage in the Nibelungenlied,[29] and occurs at the confluence of the Rhine and the Danube inÞiðreks saga,[102] hence Wagner's reinvention of them asRhinemaidens.[103]
^Tracing this etymologically to Old Norse is elusive. Old Swedishhaffru was used as a translation word in the Sweidish saga of Didrik (14 cent.) as mentioned under§Etymologies.
^The initial "h" is anaspirated h here could very well be pronounced, even in modern Normandy, especially for words borrowed from the Germanic, as Gorog points out elsewhere.[137] Wartburg (Gorog tr.) glossesnavette" as "sort of water-sprite (ondine) which attracts passers-by at night.. and plunges in with them", adding that in the patois ofValognes, it is used as a bugbear to frighten children from approaching water.
^And documented some of these fables, as the mermaid purportedly foretelling the birth ofChristian IV.
^Or even the eccentric "Sea-Quoyas Morrov", after apparently the native Angolan name for some ape, because a mermaid capture in Angola was also documented.
^The anecdote is set inDonghai or "Eastern Sea" which designates "East China Sea" on a modern atlas (and this is given in Magnani's translation), but is "Eastern Sea" given by Groot translating this passage.[205] Historically, the name could apply to theSea of Japan.[206]
^alemão in the first instance means "German woman", but by transferrence, became a "fair blonde".
^Pliny follows with an account of a "sea-man" witnessed on the Gulf of Gades (Gulf of Cádiz).[274]
^i.e., not qualifying they do so at the hour of death.
^Bartholin subsequently provides a textual description of a neckless siren with lactating breasts,[288] however, that is the description from an entirely different specimen caught in the River Cuama off theCape of Good Hope, quoted from Bernardinus Ginnarus.[292]
^Bartholin describes in detail that it was caught off of Brazil by merchants of the (Dutch)West India Company, the GWC, and the dissection conducted in Leiden by Petrus Pavius (Pieter Pauw), attended byJohannes de Laet (who was director of the GWC); Bartholin was given a hand and few ribs from de Laet, as a token of friendship.[292]
^A "sea-horse" in reality was eitherwalrus or sea-unicorns/narwhals, both sources for marine ivory. For water-horse as sea-unicorn, seeFrancisci (1668), opposite p. 1406,Plate XLVII.
^Kircher's Latin text actually resorts to writing out "piscis ανθρωπόμορφος" partly in Greek (Greek ligature is used for the final omicron-sigma).[301] Jonston's Latin version uses "anthropomorphos"; the Dutch translator changed this to "-morphus" in the text, though the caption remained "-phos" in the engraving.[299]
^In the primary sources, variously spelt inMiddle Spanish aspeche muger,[301]pez muller, pexe muller,[305] etc.
^According to Navarrete, an indigenous man had confessed to having nightly sexual intercourse with apiscis mulier orpexemulier "said to resemble a woman from the breasts down" .[307][312]
^Later it was no longer a Dutch Province. Bassett (1892) renamed her the "Molucca siren",[322] but that name does not seem to have wide circulation.
^Valentijn was also a minister of the church, mostly in the employ of the VOC; he was minister in Ambon at age 19 from 1685 for a decade, and was stationed again in Java 1705–1714.[334] but was minister in Dorchrecht, Netherlands by 1916 when Renard corresponded with him seeking help for his book,[335] and he compiled his own book while in the Netherlands.[334]
^And editor of the English edition of Renard's work.
^This specimen had been on display inside a jar at the Turf Coffee-house,St. James's Street as illustrated in an etching of it was made by artistGeorge Cruikshank.
^Although the exhibitors called it "mermaid", the gender (as to the monkey port or fish part used) is probably unclear, and one newspaper renames it "Barnum's merman".[346][347][348]
^Marine biologist Hondo comments that the Japanese souvenirs tended to use a group of fish shaped like thesuzuki (Japanese sea bass), and asserts that in Canton, China, the type of fish used wereCyprinids (carp family),Nibea mitsukurii, and thegiant mottled eel.[353] The mermaid drawn by Cruikshank (i.e., the Fiji mermaid) is speculated to be "concocted from a blue-faced monkey and a salmon".[354]
^The prince remains unacquainted with her, despite being saved by her from a shipwreck. The mermaid had brought him ashore unconscious and then hid behind rocks and covered herself in foam to hide.
^The prince is betrothed to a princess, who turns out to be the girl he mistakenly believed to be his rescuer (due to the mermaid's concealment).
^And the comb and mirror were originally associated with Aphrodite/Venus, as Fraser points out here.
References
Citations
^ab"Mermaid".Dictionaries. Oxford. Archived fromthe original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved16 April 2012.
^abcPaff (1959), p. 71: "The Swedish epilogue (II, 395) purports to know the true story of the death of Viðga and þíðrikr: after þíðrikr chased Viðga into the sea (see Musulá) Viðga's great-grandmother, an undine, conveyed him to Sjælland". Cf.Paff (1959), pp. 51–53, 129.
^Þiðreks saga or "Dietrich's saga". But the great-grandmother's involvement is only known from the Swedish version[14][16] (Swedish epilogue[17]), from the fifteenth century Swedish reworking.[15]
^abcBartsch ed. (1905), 5th ed.,Das Nibelungenlied, XXV. Âventiure,Str. 1533–1544; Edwards, Cyril tr. (2020).The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs. "Twenty-fifth Adventure"Str. 1532–1543, Oxford University Press
^Mittman, Asa Simon; Dendle, Peter J (2016).The Ashgate research companion to monsters and the monstrous. London: Routledge. p. 352.ISBN9781351894326.OCLC1021205658.
^Apollonius Rhodius,Argonautica IV, 891–919.Seaton, R. C. ed., tr. (2012),p. 354ff. "and at that time they were fashioned in part like birds and in part like maidens to behold".
^Rotroff, Susan I. (1982).Hellenistic Painted Potter: Athenian and Imported Moldmade Bowls, The Athenian Agora 22. American School of Classical Studies at Athens. p. 67, #190; Plates 35, 80.ISBN978-0876612224.
^McCulloch, Florence (1962) [1960].Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries (revised ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 167.ISBN9780807890332.Edmond Faral has called attention to what he believes is the first mention of this new type of siren.151 It is contained in the late seventh or early eighth centuryLiber monstrorum
^Faral (1953), pp. 441ff., cited by McCulloch (1962) [1960], p. 167.[42]
^ab"5. [De sirenis et onocentauris.]".Physiologus (OHG). TITUS Project. Retrieved12 September 2022., with the apparatus to load image (Cod. 223, fol. 32r)
^Pakis (2010), p. 126, note 39 gives "Siręne sint meremanniu" citing Maurer ed. (1967), the Titus Project transcription is verifiable against the image of the manuscript, fol. 32r.[47][46]
^Pakis (2010), pp. 126–127, note 42, though the remark is shorthanded, stating that the "same word" as the Old High German term is used.
^Woodruff, Helen (September 1930). "The Physiologus of Bern: A Survival of Alexandrian Style in a Ninth Century".The Art Bulletin.12 (3). Fig. 22 and p. 249.JSTOR3050780.
^Barber, Richard, ed. (1993)."Sirens".Bestiary: Being an English Version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford M.S. Bodley 764 : with All the Original Miniatures Reproduced in Facsimile. Boydell Press. p. 1150.ISBN9780851157535.
^abcBlack, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992).Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. The British Museum Press. pp. 131–132.ISBN0-7141-1705-6.
^Jøn, A. Asbjørn (1978),Dugongs and Mermaids, Selkies and Seals, p. 95,these 'marine beasts' have featured in folk tradition for many centuries now, and until relatively recently they have maintained a reasonably standard set of characteristics. Many folklorists and mythographers deem that the origin of the mythic mermaid is thedugong, posing a theory that mythologised tales have been constructed around early sightings of dugongs by sailors.
^Haymes tr. (1988), p. 270: "The End of Vidga and Thidrek, according to the Swedish Chronicle of Thidrek", Ch. 439. Vidga takes up residence in Sjaland.
^The so-calledVilkinasaga ends before this chapter, according to Bertelsen's notes. ButÞiðreks saga was frequently referred to asVilkina saga by early commentators.
^Identification of Gronsport with a specific modern city has not been made; von Der Hagens tr. (1855)Wilkina- und Niflunga-Saga oder Dietrich von Bern und die Nibelungen,III: 267n states he doesn't know.
^Child, Francis James (1965),The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, vol. 2, New York: Dover, p. 19.
^Child, Francis James, ed. (1884)."42. Clerk Colvill".The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. 1, Part2. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. pp. 372–374. Archived fromthe original on 1 November 2006.
^abChild, Francis James, ed. (1884)."289. The Mermaid".The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. Part IX. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. pp. 148–152.
^Wartburg, Walther von (1922-)Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch,XVI: 112,searchable index, translated by Gorog, in his supplementary list of Norman words borrowed from Old Norse which were missed byFries, Jan de (1962).Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch.[135]
^abTauchnitz, Karl (1883)."mermaid".Nytt engelskt och svenskt handlexikon [A New Pocket-dictionary of the English and Swedish Languages]. Leipzig: O. Holtze. p. 260.
^Rietz, Johan Ernst[in Swedish] (1877)."kona: sjö-kuna".Svenskt dialekt-lexikon eller ordbog öfver svenska allmogespraket (in Swedish). Vol. 1. Lund: Cronholm. p. 345.
^Though he is clearly dependent on past written literature also, e.g.Jón Guðmundsson the Learned (d. 1658), who also classified the mermen/mermaids among elves.
^Chapter 52: Spirit of the Sea / 52.4 "Mermaid and the Fisherman" in:Kvideland & Sehmsdorf (1988), pp. 261–262apudRekdal, Olav (1933) "Havfrua og fiskaren",Eventyr og segner p. 110. Collected in 1923 from Guri Finnset in Eikisdalen, Romsdalen (Norway).
^Gödecke, P. A.[in Swedish] (1871). "Studier öfver våra folkvisor från medeltiden".Framtiden: Tidskrift för fosterländsk odling (in Swedish).5:325–326.
^abBorovsky, Zoe Patrice (1994).Rocking the Boat: Women in Old Norse Literature. University of California, Berkeley. p. 171...further compared to a seal: 'Hon er loðin (hairy or furry) sem selr ok grá at lit'
^Illes, Judika (2009)."Rusalka".The encyclopedia of spirits: the ultimate guide to the magic of fairies, genies, demons, ghosts, gods, and goddesses. New York: HarperOne. p. 871.ISBN978-0-06-135024-5.
^Nakamaru, Teiko (2015)."Hakubutsugaku no ningyo hyōshō: honyūrui, josei, uo"博物学の人魚表象―哺乳類、女性、魚― [How the Naturalists Described Merfolk or Mermaids : Fishes, Women, and Mammalia].Journal of Comparative literature.58. Nihon Hikaku Bungakukai: 8., comparing the definitions ofningyo inKojien dictionary, 5th edition (1998) and 6th edition (2008). The definition shifts from "half human woman" to "half human (usually woman).
^Drewal, Henry John (2008). "Introduction: Charting the Voyage".Sacred Waters: Arts for Mami Wata and other divinities in Africa and the diaspora. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 1.ISBN978-0-253-35156-2..
^hair of "pau d'arco" color and skin as pink ascolhereira occurs in Affonso Arinos (1917) "A Yara",[246][247] "pink skin and green hair" in the variant of the same tale in Dorson, Mercedes; Wilmot, Jeanne edd. (1997) "The Legend of the Yara"Tales from the Rain Forest.[248]
^Cascudo (1983) [1947],Geografia dos mitos brasileiros, p. 134. Cited and summarized byTeixeira (1992), p. 33
^Noguera, Renato (2018)."Alguns mitos Guaranis: § Iara: ciúme, sedução e projeção".Mulheres e deusas: Como as divindades e os mitos femininos formaram a mulher atual. Carla Silva. HarperCollins Brasil. pp. 130–132.ISBN9788595083059.Iara renasce como mulher-peixe, uma imagem similar à sereia dos europeus.
^The novelistMorais (1926)Na planicie amazonica, p. 80 "A yára [iara] ,.. Metade mulher, metade peixe, .. cauda de escamas multicores (The iara.. part-woman, part-fish, .. tail with multicolored scales) " is oft-quoted, as in Cascudo (2002)Antologia do folclore brasileiro, 9th ed.,2: 178.
^abFonseca, Pedro Carlos Louzada (2009). "Tropos da colonizaçao da América: discurso do gênero e simbolismo animal".Romance Notes (in Portuguese).2 (Norse Greenland – Selected Papers from the Hvalsey Conference 2008):3–4.doi:10.1353/rmc.2009.0035.JSTOR43801787.S2CID201769444.Se em Gandavo permanece ambíguo o tratamento do tropo da feminização da natureza, referida ao monstruoso, em Fernão Cardim essa figuração deixa-se entrever de form sugestiva, buscada a outro tropo da mentalidade religiosa medieval [If in Gandavo the treatment of the trope of the feminization of nature, referring to the monstrous, remains ambiguous, in Fernão Cardim this figuration lets itself be glimpsed in a suggestive way, sought from another trope of the medieval religious mentality.]
^Fonseca[256] invoking thevagina dentata concept and quotingWalker, Barbara G., ed. (1983).The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects. Harper & Row. p. 328.Christianity made the vagina a metaphor for the gate of hell and revived the ancient fear-inducing image of thevagina dentata (toothed vagina) that could bite off a man's penis
^Legend in verse, titled:"A Alamôa", narratated by a mother: "Não saias, meu filho.. Que podes topar, de noite a «Alamóa» /E' fulva donzella,―é a fada da ilha;... De noute passeia, vestida de branco"[263]
^The skull imprisons her victim according to modern commentary.[259]
^Reads "the portion of the body that resembles the human figure is still rough all over with scales" ub Bisticj and Riley's translation.[271] This is given as "bristling with hair", in Rackham's (Loeb Classical Library translation, butsquama here is probably 'scales' and the emendation is given in Hansen's rendering.[272]
IV. 9 Tiberio principi nuntiavit Olisiponensium legatio ob id missa visum auditumque in quodam specu concha canentem Tritonem qua noscitur forma. et Nereidum falsa non est, squamis modo hispido corpore etiam qua humanam effigiem habent; namque haec in eodem spectata litore est, cuius morientis etiam cantum tristem accolae audivere longe; et divo Augusto legatus Galliae complures in litore apparere examines Nereidas scripsit.
IV. Tritons, Nereid and aquatic monsters. 9 An embassy from Lisbon sent for the purpose reported to the Emperor Tiberius that a Triton had been seen and heard playing on a shell in a certain cave, and that he had the well-known shape. The description of the Nereids also is not incorrect, except that their body is bristling with hair [sic] even in the parts where they have human shape; for a Nereid has been seen on the same coast, whose mournful song moreover when dying has been heard a long way off by the coast-dwellers; also the Governor of Gaul wrote to the late lamented Augustus that a large number of dead Nereids were to be seen on the shore.
^abNigg, Joseph (2014)."A Sea Creature".Sea Monsters: A Voyage around the World's Most Beguiling Map. David Matthews, Anke Bernau, James Paz. University of Chicago Press. pp. 130–132.ISBN9780226925189.
^Olaus Magnus (1996).Foote, Peter (ed.).Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus: Romæ 1555 [Description of the Northern Peoples : Rome 1555]. Fisher, Peter;,Higgens, Humphrey (trr.). Hakluyt Society. p. 1052.There can be heard melodious flutes and.. cymbals.. as I recounted.. on the sister Fates and the nymphs, as Pliny.. reads..'An embassy was dispatched from Olysippo.. to the Emperor Tiberius that Triton had been seen.. And.. the Nereids... the people.. listened from afar to her dismal moans at the hour of her death', etc.;e-book (unpaginated)
^Olaus Magnus (1555)."Libri XXI. Praefatio".Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (in Latin). Rome: Giovanni M. Viotto. p. 729.Sunt & beluae in mari quasi hominis figuram imitantes, lugubres in cantu, vt nereides; etiam marini homines, toto corpore absoluta similitudine..
^Olaus Magnus (1998).Foote, Peter (ed.).Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus: Romæ 1555 [Description of the Northern Peoples : Rome 1555]. Fisher, Peter;,Higgens, Humphrey (trr.). Hakluyt Society. p. 1081.ISBN9780904180435.There are also sea-creatures, like mermaids, which sing plaintively and are similar in shape to human beings; and there are mermen;e-book (unpaginated)
^Etting, Vivian (2009). "The Rediscovery of Greenland during the Reign of Christian IV".Journal of the North Atlantic.2 (Norse Greenland – Selected Papers from the Hvalsey Conference 2008): 159.JSTOR26686946.Dutch captain David Dannel [sic.].. a mermaid with 'flowing hair..'
^abSenter, Phil; Snow, Venretta B. (September 2015), "Solution to a 300-year-old zoological mystery",Archives of Natural History,40 (2):257–262,doi:10.3366/anh.2013.0172.Abstract
^Bartholin: "prope Brasiliam.. captus suit homo marinus..",[289] but Webster: "a Sea-Man taken by the Merchants of the West-India Company..", the latter omits mention of Brazil.
^abcdChurchill, Awnsham; Churchill, John, eds. (1704)."Chapter V. His Stay in Manila".An Account of the Empire of China, Historical, Political, Moral and Religious.. (in: A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts. Others Translated Out of Foreign Languages and Now First Publish'd in English). Vol. 1. Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row. p. 249.
^The incidents of capture and localities are as follows (the actual sources/authors will be elaborated in the citation footnotes to follow.):
In Kircher and Jonston's writings, the place of capture is given as the Insulas Pictorum near the Visayas,[301][298] namely, the "Island[s] of the Artist[s]".[302] A group of islands within the Visayas (including e.g. (Mindoro) was known as theIslas de los Pintados ('Islands of the Painted People').[303] Therefore referring to the locality as somewher within the present-day Visayas[300] The Dutch translation rendered the islands, not as "the Islands of the Painted/Painters", but as "the Picten Islands", in turn understood to mean "the Islands of the Picts".[304]
Colin identified the habitat as the Philippine waters and Malacca (Strait of Malacca).[305]
Nvarette while visiting Mindro (aforementioned island),[306] writes of the abundance of fish and the presence of "woman-fish" under the heading o NanboanNanboan[307] (namelyNauján).[308]).
^Athanasius KircherMagnes sive De arte magnetica (1641),[301] whose account is reiterated inJohannes JonstonHistoriae naturalis de piscibus et cetis libri 5 (in Latin, 1657; Dutch translationBeschryvingh van de Natuur der Vissen en bloedloze Water-dieren, 1660).[299] AlsoFrancisco Colín [es] (1663)Labor evangelica,[305]Domingo Fernández NavarreteTratados historicos, politicos, ethicos, y religiosos de la monarchia de China (1676).[307][308]
^Polistico, Edgie (2017)."dugong". In Haase, Donald (ed.).Philippine Food, Cooking, & Dining Dictionary. Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing, Inc.ISBN9786214200870.
^Appropriating "remedy for hemorrhages" which is Castiglioni's paraphrase[313] ofŌtsuki Gentaku [ja] writing shiketsu (止血/血を止む, 'stop the bleeding') in his Japanese translation of Johnston.[314]
^abRenard, Louis (1754)."monstre ou sirenne".Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires: que l'on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes: peints d'après nature ... Ouvrage ... quit contient un trr̀e grand nombre de poissons les plus beaux & les plus rares de la Mer des Indes.Baltazar Coyett,Adrien van der Stell (2 ed.). Amsterdam: Chez Reinier & Josué Ottens. Planche LVII, Nº 240.(ミシガン大学蔵本)
^abcBurr, Brooks M. (18 February 1997). "Reviewed Work(s): Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs. Louis Renard's Natural History of the Rarest Curiosities of the Seas of the Indies by Theodore W. Pietsch".Copeia.1997 (1):241–243.doi:10.2307/1447871.JSTOR1447871.
^Louis Renard(1678/79–1746).[324]Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires: que l'on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes ('Fish, [Lobsters], Crabs, in Various Colors and Extraordinary Shapes, as Found in the Moluccas and on the Coasts of Australia', first edition 1719, second edition 1754.[325][327][aq] of various marine organisms of the Moluccas region, including this mermaid.[325]
^Hayward (2018a), p. 93;Pietsch (1991), p. 5: "I had the curiosity to lift its fins in front and in back and [found] it was shaped like a woman. Mr. Van der Stel asked me for it and I gave it to him . I think he sent it to Holland". (English tr.)
^Gudger, E. W. (1934). "Jenny Hanivers, Dragons and Basilisks in the Old Natural History Books and in Modern Times".The Scientific Monthly.38 (6): 512.JSTOR15490
^Ley, Willy (1939)."Jenny+Haniver" "Basilisk and Jenny Haniver".4H-Horizons.3: 22.; reprinted inThe Lungfish, the Dodo, and the Unicorn (New York: Viking, 1948), pp. 57–66: "And then there existed a European equivalent to the Eastern Mermaid, the 'Jenny Haniver' ..."
^Ōbayashi (1979), p. 68: "人魚は洋の東西をとわず、概して不吉な存在で、悲劇の主人公である The mermaid is both in the East and West, generally an unlucky presence and the protagonist of tragedy".
^Ōbayashi (1979), pp. 68–69 gives two examples, one fromBunji 5/1189 and another fromKanpō 3/1743, which is later during the Tokugawa shogunate
^Dinnerstein, Dorothy (1963),The Mermaid and the Minotaur, New York: Harper & Row. Cited by"History",Mermaids, Northstar Gallery, archived fromthe original on 13 December 2006, retrieved20 December 2006.
^Hickey, Elizabeth (1971). "Monument to Sir Thomas Cusack".Records of Meath Archaeological & Historical Society.IV (5). Meath, Ireland: Meath Archaeological & Historical Society: 76, 84.
Armistead, Mary Allyson ed., tr. (12 April 2001).The Middle English Physiologus: A Critical Translation and Commentary (M.A., English Literature). Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University. pp. 85–90.CiteSeerX10.1.1.557.6420.
Naroditskaya, Inna; Austern, Linda Phyllis (2006),"Introduction: Singing Each to Each", in Austern, Linda Phyllis; Naroditskaya, Inna (eds.),Music of the Siren, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 1–15,ISBN9780253112071
Nies, Betst (2014). "Transatlantic Mermaids: Literary and Cultural Fantasies from Copenhagen to Haiti and the United States".Amaltea. Revista de mitocrítica.6: 305‐327.doi:10.5209/rev_AMAL.2014.v6.46527.
Nkemleke, Daniel A.; Neba, Divine Che (2020). "Human Categories in Oral Tradition in Cameroon". In Marciniak, Katarzyna (ed.).Chasing Mythical Beasts: The Reception of Ancient Monsters in Children's and Young Adults' Culture. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.ISBN978-3-8253-6995-8.
Ōbayashi, Taryō[in Japanese] (1979).Shinwa no hanashi神話の話. 講談社学術文庫 346 (in Japanese). Kodansha. pp. 67–73.ASINB000J8HXQW.
Viscardi, Paolo; Hollinshead, Anita; MacFarlane, Ross; Moffat, James (2014). "Mermaids Uncovered".Journal of Museum Ethnography (27 Brave New Worlds: Transforming Museum Ethnography through Technology: Papers from the Annual Conference of the Museum Ethnographers Group Held at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, in Association with the University of Brighton, 15–16 April 2013):98–116.JSTOR43915865.
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