|
Merpeople
Merfolk or merpeople are legendary water-dwelling human-like beings. They are attested in folklore and mythology throughout the ages in various parts of the world. Female merfolk may be referred to as mermaids, although in a strict sense mermaids are confined to beings who are half-woman and half-fish in appearance. Male merfolk are called mermen. Depending on the story, they can be described as ugly or beautiful. Chinese ''renyu'' () stands for "merfolk", but in ancient geographical or natural historical tracts, this referred to "human-fish" or "man-fish" purported to inhabit rivers or lakes in certain parts of China. Japanese ''ningyo'' () is also "merfolk", and also applied to various human-like fish recorded in writings from medieval times into the Edo Period. China Certain fantastical types of "fish", generically referred to as ''renyu'' (, "human-fish") is alleged to occur in various parts of China according to the ''Shan Hai Jing'' (''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', 4 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings. 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 the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts. The male and the female collectively are sometimes referred to as merfolk or merpeople. The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by the Sirens of Greek mythology, which were originally half-birdlike, but ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merman
Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures, which are male human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other times as handsome. Antiquity Perhaps the first recorded merman was the Assyrian-Babylonian sea-god Ea (called Enki by the Sumerians), linked to the figure known to the Greeks as Oannes. However, while some popular writers have equated Oannes of the Greek period to the god Ea (and to Dagon), Oannes was rather one of the ''apkallu'' servants to Ea. The ''apkallu'' have been described as "fish-men" in cuneiform texts, and if Berossus 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. But Berossus was writing much later during the era of Greek rule, engaging in the "construction" of the past. Thus even though figurines have been unearth to corroborate this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merman
Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures, which are male human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other times as handsome. Antiquity Perhaps the first recorded merman was the Assyrian-Babylonian sea-god Ea (called Enki by the Sumerians), linked to the figure known to the Greeks as Oannes. However, while some popular writers have equated Oannes of the Greek period to the god Ea (and to Dagon), Oannes was rather one of the ''apkallu'' servants to Ea. The ''apkallu'' have been described as "fish-men" in cuneiform texts, and if Berossus 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. But Berossus was writing much later during the era of Greek rule, engaging in the "construction" of the past. Thus even though figurines have been unearth to corroborate this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merfolk (other) or merboy, a male merperson
{{disambiguation ...
Merfolk or merpeople are legendary water-dwelling human-like beings. Merfolk may also refer: * Mermaid or mergirl, a female merperson * Merman Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures, which are male human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas and weddings, folk dances and initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact or traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain in a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandarin Duck
The mandarin duck (''Aix galericulata'') is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at long with a wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus ''Aix''. is an Ancient Greek word which was used by Aristotle to refer to an unknown diving bird, and is the Latin for a wig, derived from , a cap or bonnet. Outside of its native range, the mandarin duck has a large introduced population in the British Isles and Western Europe, with additional smaller introductions in North America. Description The adult male has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". The male's breast is purple with two vertical white bars, the flanks ruddy, and he has two orange feathers at the back (large feathers that stick up similar to boat sails). The female is similar to the female wood duck, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye, but is paler below, has a sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinna (genus)
''Pinna'' is a genus of bivalve molluscs belonging to the family Pinnidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Pinna Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138352 on 2022-01-16 The type species of the genus is '' Pinna rudis''. The most completely studied species in the genus is '' P. nobilis'', a Mediterranean pen shell which was historically important as the principal source of sea silk. Description These pen shells can reach a length of about . They are characterized by thin, elongated, wedge-shaped, and almost triangular shells with long, toothless edges. The surface of the shells shows radial ribs over their entire length. ''Pinna'' is distinguished from its sibling genus ''Atrina'' by the presence of a sulcus dividing the nacreous region of the valves, and the positioning of the adductor scar on the dorsal side of shells. These bivalves most commonly lie point-first on the sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byssus
A byssus () is a bundle of filaments secreted by many species of bivalve mollusc that function to attach the mollusc to a solid surface. Species from several families of clams have a byssus, including pen shells (Pinnidae), true mussels (Mytilidae), and Dreissenidae. Filaments Byssus filaments are created by certain kinds of marine and freshwater bivalve mollusks, which use the byssus to attach themselves to rocks, substrates, or seabeds. In edible mussels, the inedible byssus is commonly known as the "beard", and is removed before cooking. Many species of mussels secrete byssus threads to anchor themselves to surfaces, with families including the Arcidae, Mytilidae, Anomiidae, Pinnidae, Pectinidae, Dreissenidae, and Unionidae. Mechanics The byssus, or byssal complex, is composed of multiple extracellular collagenous threads that are placed radially by the mussel from a central stem. Each thread is composed of three regions: a corrugated proximal region close to the mussel b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Silk
Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric that is made from the long silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells (in particular ''Pinna nobilis''). The byssus is used by the clam to attach itself to the sea bed. Sea silk was produced in the Mediterranean region from the large marine bivalve mollusc ''Pinna nobilis'' until early in the 20th century. The animal, whose shell is sometimes almost a metre long, adheres itself pointed end down to rocks in the intertidal zone using a tuft of very strong thin fibres. These byssi or filaments (which can be six centimetres long) are spun and, when treated with lemon juice, turn a golden colour, which never fades. The cloth produced from these filaments can be woven even more finely than silk, and is extremely light and warm; it was said that a pair of women's gloves made from the fabric could fit into half a walnut shell and a pair of stockings in a snuffbox.In ''Spirals in Time,'' Scales p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bowuzhi
''Bowuzhi'' (博物志; "Records of Diverse Matters") by Zhang Hua (c. 290 CE) was a compendium of Chinese stories about natural wonders and marvelous phenomena. It quotes from many early Chinese classics, and diversely includes subject matter from Chinese mythology, history, geography, and folklore. The ''Bowuzhi'', which is one of the first works in the literary genre of ''zhiguai'' "tales of anomalies; supernatural stories", records the earliest versions of several myths, such as the white '' yenü'' 野女 "wild women" living south of China in a society without men. Scholars have described the ''Bowuzhi'' as "a miscellany of scientific interest" and "an important minor classic". Author The ''Bowuzhi'' author Zhang Hua (232-300) was a Western Jin dynasty (265-316) scholar, poet, and protoscientist. His biography in the (644) ''Book of Jin'' depicts Zhang Hua as a ''fangshi'' "master of esoterica" who was especially skilled at numerological arts, and a voracious collector of bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern history, modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early Middle Ages, Early, High Middle Ages, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralized authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in late antiquity, continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Mandarin Duck")
