folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, 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, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as storms,

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

s, and drownings (cf. ). 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 A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mer ...

, also a familiar figure in folklore and

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

. 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 as

merfolk Merfolk, Mercreatures, Mermen 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. Merfolk, Merpeople, or simply Mer refers to humanoid creatur ...

or merpeople. The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by the

sirens Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths. Places * Si ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, 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 by

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

during his exploration of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, may have been sightings of

manatee Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing t ...

s or similar aquatic mammals. While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside folklore, reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day. Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature in recent centuries, such as in

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

literary fairy tale A literary fairy tale is a fairy tale that differs from an oral folktale in that it is written by "a single identifiable author", as defined by Jens Tismar's monograph. They also differ from oral folk tales, which can be characterized as "simple ...

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...

" (1837). They have subsequently been depicted in operas, paintings, books, comics, animation, and live-action films.

Etymologies

The English word "mermaid" has its earliest-known attestation in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

(

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...

, '' Nun's Priest's Tale'', c. 1390). The compound word is formed from "'" (sea), and "".; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) ''A New Eng. Dict.'' VI, s.v
mermaid

Mermin

Another English word "†mermin" ( in the

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

) for 'siren or mermaid' is older, though now obsolete.; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) ''A New Eng. Dict.'' VI, s.v
mermin
It derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, ad. 'sea' + 'female slave', earliest attestation , as a gloss for "siren", in ''

Corpus Glossary The Corpus Glossary is one of many Anglo-Saxon glossaries. Alongside many entries which gloss Latin words with simpler Latin words or explanations, it also includes numerous Old English glosses on Latin words, making it one of the oldest extant tex ...

'' (c. 725). A Middle English example in a bestiary (dated to 1275–1300) is indeed a 'mermaid', part maiden, part fish-like. Its

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

cognate is known from biblical glosses and

Physiologus The ''Physiologus'' () is a didactic Christian text written or compiled in Greek by an unknown author in Alexandria. Its composition has been traditionally dated to the 2nd century AD by readers who saw parallels with writings of Clement of Alexa ...

. The

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

cognate , (mod. German ""), "mermaid", is attested in epics,Lexer (1872) ''Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch'', s.v.
mer-minne
and the one in ''

Rabenschlacht ''Die Rabenschlacht'' (The Battle of Ravenna) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It is part of t ...

'' is a great-grandmother of Wittich; this same figure appears in an

Old Swedish Old Swedish ( Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...

text a , and in Old Norse a (''siókona'' ic. "sea-woman"). Old Norse ,

masculine noun In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

, is also listed as cognate to "†mermin", as well as ON , modern Icelandic , and modern Norwegian ''marmæle''.

Merewif

Old English is another related term, and appears once in reference not so much to a mermaid but a certain sea hag,Bosworth-Toller (1882), s.v.
mere-wíf
''Beowulf'', Klaeber ed. (2008)

936 Year 936 ( CMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * June 19 – At Laon, Louis IV, the 14-year old son of the late King Charles the Simple, is crowned King of West Francia afte ...

br>v. 1519
/ref> and not well-attested later. Its MHG cognate , also defined as "" in modern German with perhaps ""; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) ''A New Eng. Dict.'' VI, s.v
merwoman
, "name for the mermaid when older or wedded". a valid English definition. The word is attested, among other medieval epics, in the ''

Nibelungenlied The (, or ; or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germanic hero ...

'',Lexer (1872) ''Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch'', s.v.
mer-wîp
and rendered "merwoman", "mermaid", "water sprite", or other terms; the two in the story are translated as ON ("sea-women").

Origins

The siren of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

mythology became conflated with mermaids during the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period. Some European Romance languages still use

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

terms for ''siren'' to denote the mermaid, e.g., French and Spanish and Italian '. Some commentators have sought to trace origins further back into § Ancient Middle Eastern mythology.

Sirens

In the early Greek period, the sirens were conceived of as human-headed birds,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". but by the classical period, the Greeks sporadically depicted the siren as part fish in art.

Medieval sirens as mermaids

The siren's part-fish appearance became increasingly popular during the Middle Ages. 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. This change of the medieval siren from bird to fish were thought by some to be the influence of

Germanic myth Germanic Myth refers to an idealized or valorized view of German tribes living to the North of Rome in the first century CE. It takes inspiration from ''Germania'', a 1st-century account of Germanic tribes by Tacitus. One of the earliest idealizati ...

, later expounded in literary legends of

Lorelei The Lorelei ( ; or , or ; also found as ''Loreleï'', ''Lore Lay'', ''Lore-Ley'', ''Lurley'', ''Lurelei'' and ''Lurlei'' throughout history) is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at ...

and

Undine Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern l ...

; though a dissenting comment is that parallels are not limited to Teutonic culture.

Textual attestations

The earliest text describing the siren as fish-tailed occurs in the '' Liber Monstrorum de diversis generibus'' (seventh to mid-eighth century), which described sirens as "sea girls" () whose beauty in form and sweet song allure seafarers, but beneath the human head and torso, have the scaly tail-end of a fish with which they can navigate the sea. "Sirens are mermaids" (Old High German/Early ) is explicit in the aforementioned Old German ''Physiologus'' (eleventh century). The Middle English bestiary (mid-13th century) clearly means "mermaid" when it explains the siren to be a ''mereman'', 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.

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Philipp de Thaun's version, written c. 1121–1139) also accommodated by stating that a part of the siren may be bird or fish.

Iconographic attestations

In a ninth-century ''Physiologus'' manufactured in France (Fig., top left), the siren was illustrated as a "woman-fish", i.e., mermaid-like, despite being described as bird-like in the text. 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 () down to their feet. 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 manuscripts">Additional manuscript 11283, c. 1170–1180s. Fig., top right).

Mirror and comb

While the siren holding a fish was a commonplace theme, the siren in bestiaries were also sometimes depicted holding the comb, or the mirror. The comb and mirror became a persistent symbol of the siren-mermaid. In the Christian moralizing context (e.g the bestiaries), the mermaid's mirror and comb were held as the symbol of vanity.

Other Greek mythical figures

The sea-monsters Scylla and Charybdis, 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, Scylla and Charybdis lived near the sirens' domain. In

Etruscan art Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct charact ...

before the sixth century BC, Scylla was portrayed as a mermaid-like creature with two tails. 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 of

Melusine Mélusine () or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a nixie (folklore), female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a Serpent symbolism, serpent or Fish in culture, fish fr ...

. 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. The female

Oceanid In Greek mythology, the Oceanids or Oceanides ( ; , ) are the nymphs who were the three thousand (a number interpreted as meaning "innumerable") daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Description and function The Oceanids' father Oceanu ...

Nereids In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; ; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanids, Oceanid Doris (Oceanid), Doris, sisters to their bro ...

and

Naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

s 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 Jane Ellen Harrison (9 September 1850 – 15 April 1928) was a British classical scholar and linguist. With Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, Harrison is one of the founders of modern studies in Ancient Greek religion and mythology. She ...

(1882) has speculated that the mermaids or tritonesses of Greek and

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

may have been brought from the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, possibly transmitted by

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n mariners. The Greek god

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

had two fish tails instead of legs, and later became pluralized as a group. The prophetic sea deity

Glaucus In Greek mythology, Glaucus (; ) was a Greek prophetic sea-god, born mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. It was believed that he came to the rescue of sailors and fishermen in storms, having earlier earned a living from the ...

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 in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n artwork from the

Old Babylonian Period The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babyloni ...

onwards, on

cylinder seals A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

. These figures are usually mermen (''

kulullû Kulullû, inscribed 𒄩 𒇽𒍇𒇻, "Fish-Man", was an ancient Mesopotamian mythical monster possibly inherited by Marduk from his father Ea. In later Assyrian mythology, he was associated with ''kuliltu'', "Fish-Woman", and statues of them ...

''), but mermaids do occasionally appear. The name for the mermaid figure may have been ''*kuliltu'', meaning "fish-woman". Such figures were used in

Neo-Assyrian The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, Nort ...

art as protective figures and were shown in both monumental sculpture and in small, protective figurines.

Syrian mermaid goddess

A mermaid-like goddess, identified by Greek and Roman writers as Derceto or Atargatis, was worshipped at

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

. In a myth recounted by

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

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 Semiramis (; ''Šammīrām'', ''Šamiram'', , ''Samīrāmīs'') was the legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and of Ninus, who succeeded the latter on the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus ...

, was fed by doves and survived to become a queen. In the second century,

Lucian Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridi ...

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 Manbij (; ; ) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, west of the Euphrates. The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000.

), which appeared entirely human.''De Dea Syra'', 14 ''apud'' In the myth, Semiramis's first husband is named Onnes. Some scholars have compared this to the earlier Mesopotamian myth of Oannes, one of the ''

apkallu Apkallu or and Abgal (; Akkadian and Sumerian, respectively) are terms found in cuneiform inscriptions that in general mean either "wise" or "sage". In several contexts the ''Apkallu'' are seven demigods, sometimes described as part man an ...

'' or seven sages described as fish-men in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

texts. While Oannes was a servant of the water deity Ea, having gained wisdom from the god, English writer

Arthur Waugh Arthur Waugh (27 August 1866 – 26 June 1943) was an English author, literary critic and publisher. He was the father of the authors Alec Waugh and Evelyn Waugh. Early life Waugh was born in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, in 1866, elder son of ...

understood Oannes to be equivalent to Ea, and proposed that surely "Oannes had a fish-tailed wife" and descendants, with Atargatis being one deity thus descended, "through the mists of time". Diodorus's chronology of Queen Semiramis resembles the feats of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

(campaigns to India, etc.), and Diodorus may have woven the Macedonian king's material via some unnamed source. There is a mermaid legend attached to Alexander the Great's sister, but this is of post-medieval vintage (see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

Rational attempts at explanation

Sometime before 546 BC, Milesian philosopher

Anaximander Anaximander ( ; ''Anaximandros''; ) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus,"Anaximander" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vol. ...

postulated that mankind had sprung from an aquatic animal species, a theory that is sometimes called the Aquatic Ape Theory. He thought that humans, who begin life with prolonged

infancy In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...

, could not have survived otherwise. There are also naturalist theories on the origins of the mermaid, postulating they derive from sightings of

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest ...

s or even

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

. Another theory, tangentially related to the aforementioned Aquatic Ape Theory, is that the mermaids of folklore were actually human women who trained over time to be skilled divers for things like

sponges Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and ar ...

, and spent a lot of time in the sea as a result. One proponent of this theory is British author William Bond, who has written several books about it.

Medieval literature

Merwomen in Germanic literature

Nibelungenlied

Two prophetic merwomen (MHG pl.: ), Sigelinde (MHG: Sigelint) and her maternal auntLexer (1872) ''Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch'', s.v.
muome ''swf.''
.. Hadeburg (MHG: Hadeburc) are bathing in the

Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

when Hagen von Tronje encounters them (''

'', Âventiure 25). They are called ''sjókonar'' ("sea women") in the Old Norse ''Þiđreks saga''. There is a swan maiden tale motif involved here (Hagen robs their clothing), but Grimm argued they must have actually been swan maidens, since they are described as hovering above water. In any case, this brief segment became the "foundational" groundwork of subsequent water-nix lore and literature that developed in the Germanic sphere. They are a probable source of the three Rhine maidens in

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's opera ''

Das Rheingold ''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nib ...

''. Though conceived of as swan-maidens in Wagner's 1848 scenario, the number being a threesome was suggested by the woodcut by

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (26 March 1794 – 24 May 1872) () was a German painter, chiefly of Biblical subjects. As a young man he associated with the painters of the Nazarene movement who revived the florid Renaissance style in religious ...

and Eugen Napoleon Neureuther in the Pfizer edition of 1843 (fig. on the left).

Rabenschlacht

Middle High German ''mereminne'' 'mermaid' is mentioned, among other epics, in the ''

'' ("Battle of Ravenna", 13th cent.) of the Dietrich cycle. The mermaid (or ) is named Wâchilt and is the ancestress of the traitorous Wittich who carries him off at the time of peril to her "submarine home". This material has been found translated as a medieval '' Þiðreks saga'' only in a late, reworked Swedish version, i.e., one of the closing chapters of ''Ðiðriks saga'' (fifteenth century, Hyltén-Cavallius, Gunnar Olof ed. (1854). ''Sagan om Didrik af Bern'
Kap. 383, p. 300
''Den gamla svenska bearbetningen af Didriks saga'' is dated as ''ifrån 1400-talet'' (fifteenth century or later)
p.xxiii
/ref> also known as the "Swedish epilogue"). The mermaid/undine is here translated as Old Swedish . The Old Norse ''Þiðreks saga'' proper Bertelsen, Henrik ed. (1905). ''Þiđriks saga af Bern '
Kap. 84¹ (57), I:73
"Vaðe rise ier asiolande svnr villcinus konongs ok siokononar ..." calls the same mermaid a ( ic. or "sea-woman". The genealogy is given in the saga: the sea-woman and Villcinus (Vilkinus), king of Scandinavia together had a son, Vaði (

Wade Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Wade Township, Clinton County, Ill ...

) of (Sjóland=

Sjælland Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020, comprising ...

, Zealand) who was a giant (); whose son was Velent (

Wayland the Smith In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; ; ; (); from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master blacksmith originating in Germanic heroic legend, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Wey ...

), whose son after that was Viðga Velentsson (Wittich or Witige), 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. 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 epic ''Rabenschlacht''), but the battle spot was changed to Gronsport, somewhere on the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

, in Northern Germany in the Swedish version.: "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. .

Folklore of Britain and Ireland

The

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

chapel in

Durham Castle Durham Castle is a Norman castle in the city of Durham, England, which has been occupied since 1837 by University College, Durham after its previous role as the residence of the Bishops of Durham. Designated since 1986 as a cultural World Heri ...

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

Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky

omen An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient history, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages ...

s, both foretelling disaster and provoking it. Several variants of the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

Sir Patrick Spens "Sir Patrick Spens" is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads (No. 58) (Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 41), and is of Scotland, Scottish origin. It is a maritime ballad about a disaster at sea. Background ''Sir Patrick Spens'' remains one of ...

'' depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships. In some versions, she tells them they will never see land again; in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. Mermaids can also be a sign of approaching rough weather, and some have been described as monstrous in size, up to . In another short ballad, "Clerk Colvill" (

Child ballad The Child Ballads are List of the Child Ballads, 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies ...

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. In "The Mermaid" (Child ballad 289), her sighting forebodes a vessel's deadly shipwreck. Mermaids have been described as able to swim up rivers to

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

lakes. In one story, the

Laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

of Lorntie went to aid a woman he thought was drowning in a lake near his house; his servant pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed at them that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant. But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent; e.g., teaching humans cures for certain diseases.

Mermen Mermen may refer to: * The Mermen, a music group *Merman A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the w ...

have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids, with little interest in humans. According to legend a mermaid came to the Cornish village of

Zennor Zennor (; (village) or (parish)) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen. Zennor lies on the north coast, about no ...

, where she used to listen to the singing of a chorister, Matthew Trewhella. The two fell in love, and Matthew went with the mermaid to her home at Pendour Cove. On summer nights, the lovers can be heard singing together. The legend, recorded by folklorist

William Bottrell William Bottrell (1816–1881) was born at Rafta, St Levan in Cornwall on 7 March 1816. He contributed greatly to the preservation of Cornish mythology. Both he and Thomas Quiller Couch contributed folk stories of West Cornwall for Robert Hunt's ...

, stems from a fifteenth-century mermaid carving on a wooden bench at the Church of Saint Senara in Zennor. Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative. In

Scottish mythology Scottish mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Scotland, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. Nat ...

, a '' ceasg'' is a freshwater mermaid, though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore. Mermaids from the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, known as ''ben-varrey'', are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions,Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 22–23. "Ben-Varrey". . with various accounts of assistance, gifts and rewards. One story tells of a fisherman who carried a stranded mermaid back into the sea and was rewarded with the location of treasure. Another recounts the tale of a baby mermaid who stole a doll from a human little girl, but was rebuked by her mother and sent back to the girl with a gift of a pearl necklace to atone for the theft. A third story tells of a fishing family that made regular gifts of apples to a mermaid and was rewarded with prosperity. In Irish lore, Lí Ban was a human being transformed into a mermaid. After three centuries, when Christianity came to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, she was baptized. The Irish mermaid is called

merrow Merrow (from Irish language, Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is anglicised from the Irish word murúch. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap (; anglicised: #Cohuleen druith, cohuleen dr ...

in tales such as "Lady of Gollerus" published in the nineteenth century.

Scandinavian folklore

Haffrue

The mermaid corresponds to Danish and

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is one of the official written standards for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is by far the most used written form of Norwegian today, as it is adopted by 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. There is no cou ...

Norwegian , whereas merman answers to Danish/Norwegian ''havmand''. As a side-note, a supposed Old Norse ''haffrú'' is the etymological source of

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...

''havette'' for a man-snatching water-sprite, according to one linguist. An early description of the ''Havfrue'', and her mate ''Havmand'', was given by the Danish Bishop Pontoppidan (1753). They were considered the mating female and male of the creature, inhabiting the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, and their offspring was called (var. ), as repeated by later commentators.: "''Havmaend og Havfruer'' (mermen and mermaids)", in the plural Though he was aware of fabulous fables being told about them, he was convinced such creature existed. But as they were non-human, he argued the term ''Havmand'' (merman) should be avoided, in favor of some coined term such as sea-ape (). He also knowingly employed

Old Norwegian Old Norwegian ( and ), also called Norwegian Norse, is an early form of the Norwegian language that was spoken between the 11th and 14th century; it is a transitional stage between Old West Norse and Middle Norwegian. Its distinction from O ...

/Old Norse ''maryge'' ic.and ''hafstrambe'' ic.as the Norwegian names of the mermaid and merman respectively.

Havfrue cognates

The Icelandic cognate form is ' with several synonyms, though instead of these the commonly used term today is '. The Faroese forms are ' (). The Swedish form is , with other synonyms such as , or ('sea-fairy', the maritime counterpart of the forest ).

Other aliases

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

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Old English language, Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated hi ...

(1851) writing on Norwegian folklore gave ''margygr'' for mermaid (and ''

marmennill In Scandinavian folklore, a (also ''marmandill, marbendill,'' or ''margmelli'') is a merman that often features in stories after having been accidentally caught at sea by fishermen. The creature is typically known for its ability to Precognition, ...

'' for merman) as Norwegian folk terms, but these are interpolations, which the source, Andreas Faye's ''Norske sagn'' (1833), only side-noted as occurrences of old terms in medieval literature.

General characteristics

The beautiful ''havfrue'' of Scandinavia may be benevolent or malicious, and legends about her abducting maidens (cf. infra) is given as a case of point for her malice. It is said the ''havfrue'' will avenge harm done to it, as in the Norwegian anecdote of one who was lured near the ship, and had her hand cruelly lopped off on the

gunwale The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat. Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firing ...

. She caused a storm that nearly drowned the wicked sailor.

Omen, prophecy and wisdom

The appearance/sighting alone betides an impending storm. Norwegians do not wish to see the havfrue, as she heralds storm or bad weather (Norway). The appearance of the ''sjörå'' forebodes a storm or poor catch in Swedish tradition, much as the appearance of the

skogsrå The Skogsrå ( ; ), Skogsfrun ('the Mistress of the Forest'), Skogssnuvan, Skogsnymfen ('the Forest Nymph'), Råndan ('the Rå') or Huldran, is a mythical female creature (or ''rå'') of the forest in Swedish folklore. It appears in the form of ...

(wood-nymph) presages poor catch for the hunter. According to the superstitions of Swedish fishermen, if one saw a ''sjörå'' who was harbinger of tempest and bad catch, one should not tell his comrades but strike flint against steel to light a spark. In other cases the Scandinavian mermaid is considered to be prophetic. The tale type " The Mermaid's Message" (, ML 4060) is recognized as a , i.e., a group of tales found in Scandinavia with parallels found elsewhere, according to the scheme devised by

Reidar Thoralf Christiansen Reidar Thoralf Christiansen (27 January 1886 – 22 July 1971) was a Norwegian folklorist, archivist of the Norwegian Folklore Collection (NFS) and professor of folkloristics at the University of Oslo. Biography Christiansen studied theology d ...

. This may not necessarily involve the mermaid's spaeing, and in the following example of this ML type tale, she merely imparts wisdom: A fisherman who performs favors and earns the privilege to pose three questions to a mermaid. He inquires about the most suitable material for a

flail Flail may refer to: * Flail (tool), an agricultural implement for threshing * Flail (weapon) A flail is a weapon consisting of a striking head attached to a handle by a flexible rope, strap, or chain. The chief tactical virtue of the flail i ...

, to which she answers calf's hide, of course, and tells him he should have asked about how to brew water (into beer), which would have benefited him more greatly.

Merfolk as abductors

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

Marmaele

As aforementioned, the mermaid () takes the merman () for husband, and produce children called ''marmæler'' (sing. , "sea-talkers"), which the fishermen sometimes bring home to gain insight into the future. Early sources say that Norwegian fishermen who capture the ''marmæte'' or ''marmæle'' may bring them home but do not dare keep it for more than 24 hours before turning them back into the sea whence they found it.

Margýgr

Jón Árnason describes the ''margýgur'' as yellow-haired woman who is fish from the waist down, who drags careless seamen to the depths of the sea. However, ''margygr'' literally means something like "mer-troll", and in medieval tradition, the ''margygr'' is more of a "sea monster" or "sea-ogress". According to a version of the ''

Saga of St. Olaf Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

'' (

Olaf II of Norway Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he w ...

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

Western European folklore

is a mermaid-like character from

European folklore European folklore or Western folklore refers to the folklore of the Western world, especially when discussed comparatively. The history of Christendom during the Early Modern period has resulted in a number of traditions that are shared in many E ...

, cursed to take the form of a serpent from the waist down. Later depictions sometimes changed this to a fish tail. At some point, possibly in the late nineteenth century, her name became attached to the two-tailed mermaid of heraldry. The

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

's treatise ''

A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits ''A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits'' () is a treatise by the Swiss lay theologian and philosopher Paracelsus, published posthumously in 1566. It is about elemental beings and their place in a Christi ...

'' (1566) spawned the idea that the water elemental (or water sprite) could acquire an immortal soul through marriage with a human; this led to the writing of De la Motte Fouqué's novella ''

'', and eventually to the famous literary mermaid tale,

's "

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

lust Lust is an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for red ...

Byzantine and Ottoman Greek folklore

The conception of the ''siren'' as both a mermaid-like creature and part bird-like persisted in

Byzantine Greece Byzantine Greece has a history that mainly coincides with that of the Byzantine Empire itself. Background: Roman Greece The Greek peninsula became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, and the Aegean islands were added to this territory in 133 BC. ...

for some time. The ''

'' began switching the illustration of the siren as that a mermaid, as in a version dated to the ninth century. The tenth century Byzantine Greek dictionary ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

'' still favored the avian description. There is a modern Greek legend that

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

Ottoman Greece The vast majority of the territory of present-day Greece was at some point incorporated within the Ottoman Empire. The period of Ottoman rule in Greece, lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful Greek War of Independence broke out ...

period, first printed in 1680.

Eastern Europe

Ilya Repin - Sadko - Google Art Project levels adjustment 2

Rusalka In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalki; , plural: русалки; , plural: ''rusałki'') is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water. It has counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as th ...

s are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sirens and

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

s, often seducing sailors to their doom. The nature of rusalkas varies among folk traditions, but according to ethnologist D.K. Zelenin they all share a common element: they are the restless spirits of the unclean dead. They are usually the ghosts of young women who died a violent or untimely death, either by murder or suicide, before their wedding, especially by drowning. Rusalkas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers. They appear as beautiful young women with long pale green hair and pale skin, suggesting a connection with floating weeds and days spent underwater in faint sunlight. They can be seen after dark, dancing together under the moon and calling out to young men by name, luring them to the water and drowning them. The characterization of rusalkas as both desirable and treacherous is prevalent in Russia,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, and was emphasized by nineteenth-century Russian authors. The best-known of the great Czech nationalist composer

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

's operas is ''Rusalka''. In ''

Sadko Sadko () is a principal character in Russian '' byliny'' (oral epic poems). He is an adventurer, merchant, and '' gusli'' musician from Novgorod. The story of Sadko is best known outside Russia in the opera '' Sadko'' by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov ...

'' (), an East Slavic epic, the title character—an adventurer, merchant, and ''

gusli The ''gusli'' (, , , ''husla'') is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in the Novgorodian Republic. ...

'' musician from

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

—lives for some time in the underwater court of the

Sea Tsar The Sea Tsar (, sometimes inverted for emphasis: ) is a character in East Slavic folktales and ''bylinas'', the tsar of the sea realms. The best known examples are ''bylinas'' about Sadko and fairy tales about Vasilisa the Wise, such as ''The S ...

and marries his daughter, Chernava, before finally returning home. The tale inspired such works as the poem ''Sadko'' by Alexei Tolstoy (1817–75), the opera ''

'' composed by

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...

, and the painting ''

'' by

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...

Chinese folklore

race called the are described as populating its own nation in the ''

Shanhaijing The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shanhai jing'' (), formerly Wade-Giles, romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may hav ...

'' (''Classic of Mountains and Seas'') compilation of Chinese geography and mythology, dating from the fourth century BC. The ancient work also included several types of human-headed fish, such as the or "red ru fish"; as well as creature with some humanlike qualities like the ''renyu'' () or "human-fish". Note that these are not of a specific gender, so they are not really conducive to being called "mermaids", though some English (European) writers might use "mermaid" as shorthand. There is also an account of the (; literally "sea human fish"), given in the ''

Taiping guangji The ''Taiping Guangji'' (), sometimes translated as the ''Extensive Records of the Taiping Era'' or ''Extensive Records of the Taiping Xinguo Period'', is a collection of stories compiled in the early Song dynasty. The work was completed in 978, ...

'' compilation, sourced from the work entitled ''Qiawenji'' (). The female of its kind had a head like beautiful woman's, with hair like a horse's tail, and white skin like jade without scales, covered with multicolored downy hair (or peach fuzz), and legless. The male and female had sexual organs like humans, so that

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

s and would keep them in their ponds, and the creatures could perform

sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (also coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion of the Erection, erect male Human penis, penis inside the female vagina and followed by Pelvic thrust, thrusting motions for sexual pleasure ...

normally as a human would. An anecdote considered relevant concerns a ''renyu'' ("human fish") allegedly seen by the ship carrying Zha Dao (), 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 a ''renyu'', adept at copulating with humans, and was a type of human dwelling in the sea. The anecdote in the lost ''Cuyiji'' ("Records of Bygone Extraordinay Things") from the Northern Song period, survives in quotes, e.g., from ''

leishu The ''leishu'' () is a genre of Reference work, reference books historically compiled in China and other East Asian countries. The term is generally translated as "encyclopedia", although the ''leishu'' are quite different from the modern notion ...

'' compilation ''Gujin tushu jicheng'' ( "Comprehensive Compendium of Illustrations and Books, Ancient and Modern").

Korean folklore

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

is bound on three sides by the sea. In some villages near the sea in Korea, there are mysterious stories about mermaids. Mermaids have features just like humans. Kim Dam Ryeong, a mayor of the town, saved four captured mermaids from a fisherman, as recorded in the '' Eou yadam'' (''unofficial histories''). In Dongabaek Island of

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

is a tale of Princess Hwang-ok from Naranda, a mythical undersea kingdom of mermaids; this tale is based on the historical

Heo Hwang-ok Heo Hwang-ok (; 32AD – 189AD) also known as Empress Boju (), was a legendary queen mentioned in '' Samguk yusa'', a 13th-century Korean chronicle. According to ''Samguk Yusa'', she became the wife of King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya at the age of 16 ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Another tale concerns a mermaid named Sinjike () who warned fishermen of impending storms by singing and throwing rocks into the sea from Geomun Island. The island's residents believed her to be a goddess of the sea and that she could predict the weather.

Japanese folklore

The Japanese equivalent is . According to one dictionary, ''ningyo'' oftentimes refers to a "half-woman and half-fish fabulous creature", i.e., mermaid, though not necessarily female, i.e., includes mermen. Despite the dictionary stating it has the appearance of half-woman half-fish, the creature has been pictorialized rather as a being with a human female head sitting on a body which is entirely fish-like (see fig. right).

Ningyo flesh

The ''ningyos flesh was purported to be an elixir, and consuming its flesh said to bestow remarkable longevity. A famous ''ningyo'' legend concerns the who is said to have partaken of the flesh of a merfolk and attained miraculous longevity and lived for centuries. It is not discernible whether the flesh was a female; a pair of translators call it "flesh of a mermaid" in one book, but merely a "strange fish with a human face" in another.

As yōkai

A ''ningyo'' might be counted as a ''

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...

'' since it is included in

Toriyama Sekien 200px, A , specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama , real name Sano Toyofusa, was a scholar, '' kyōka'' poet, and ''ukiyo-e'' artist of Japanese folklore. Early life Born to a family of high-ranking servants to the Tokugawa sh ...

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

Indian, Southeast Asian, and Polynesian folklore

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Suvannamaccha Suvannamaccha (; ; , ALA-LC: ''Suvaṇṇmacchā''; , ; literally "golden fish") is a daughter of Ravana (Thotsakan) appearing in the Thai language, Thai and other Southeast Asian versions of Ramayana. She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil H ...

(literally "golden mermaid") is a daughter of

Ravana According to the Mahakavya, Hindu epic, ''Ramayana'', Ravana was a kingJustin W. Henry, ''Ravana's Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below'', Oxford University Press, p.3 of the island of Lanka, in which he is the chief antag ...

who also appears in the Thai and other Southeast Asian

versions of Ramayana Depending on the methods of counting, as many as three hundred versions of the Hindu epics, Indian Hindu epic poem, the ''Ramayana'', are known to exist. The oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit version attributed to the Pa ...

. She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

's plans to build a bridge to

Lanka Lanka (; ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary Rakshasa king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks kn ...

but falls in love with him instead. In

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, she is referred as Sovanna Maccha, a favorite for Cambodian audiences.Le Reamker
– Description of Ream Ker in French

Indonesia

In the Javanese culture of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Nyai Roro Kidul ''Nyi Roro Kidul'' (or ''Nyai Rara Kidul'') is a supernatural being in Indonesian folklore. She is the Queen of the Southern Sea in Sundanese and Javanese mythology. In Javanese mythology, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul is a creation of Dewa Kaping Telu, ...

is a sea goddess and the Queen of the Southern Seas; the mermaid queen is said to inhabit the southern beach in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. She has many forms; in her mermaid form, she is called Nyai Blorong.

Philippines

In the

Tagalog language Tagalog ( ,According to the ''OED'' anMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary ; ''Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as ...

mermaids are known as '' sirena'' and ''siyokoy'' respectively., 1583 pp. The general term for mermaid among all ethnic groups is Sirena. In the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, mermaid concepts differ per ethnic group. Among the Pangasinense, the Binalatongan mermaid is a Queen of the sea who married the mortal Maginoo Palasipas and ruled humanity for a time.The Beyer Ethnographic Series Among the Ilocano, mermaids were said to have propagated and spread through the union of the first Serena and the first Litao, a water god. Among the Bicolano, mermaids were referred as Magindara, known for their beautiful voice and vicious nature. Among the

Sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chili sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of chillis with secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste (terasi), garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an Indonesia ...

, mermaids called Mambubuno are depicted as having two fins, instead of one. In the folktale "Mermaid" (

Cebuano language Cebuano ( )Cebuano
on Merriam-Webster.com is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken i ...

: ) localized in

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

and

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...

Provinces, a couple named Juan and Juana is about to have a daughter, but the pregnant wife has a constant craving for

milkfish The milkfish (''Chanos chanos'') is a widespread species of ray-finned fish found throughout the Indo-Pacific. It is the sole living species in the family Chanidae, and the only living member of the genus ''Chanos''. The repeating scientific na ...

(Cebuano: ). One day his fishing caught nothing, but met a talking milkfish wearing a crown, the "King of the Fishes" (Cebuano: ) 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.

New Zealand

Mermaids and

mermen Mermen may refer to: * The Mermen, a music group *Merman A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the w ...

are characters in the myth of "Pania of the Reef", a well-known tale of

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

, which has many parallels with stories of sea-people in other parts of the world.

African folklore

Mami Water (Lit. "Mother of the Water") are water spirits venerated in

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, Central and

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

, and in the African

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

in the

and parts of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. They are usually female, but are sometimes male. They are regarded as diabolical beings, and are often

femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

s, luring men to their deaths.. The

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word "پری دریایی" or "maneli" means "mermaid". Among the

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people ** Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today ** Shona languages, a wider group of languages defined in the early 20th century ** Kingdom of Zimbabwe, a Shona stat ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, njuzu are mermaid-like spirits. The

jengu A jengu (pl. miengu, also called bisima) is a water spirit in the traditional beliefs of the Sawabantu groups of Cameroon, like the Duala, Bakweri, Malimba, Subu, Bakoko, Oroko people. Among the Bakweri, the term used is liengu (plural: ...

, also known as the "Itongo" (Sea Queen), of Cameroon is sometimes depicted as half woman and half fish.

Arabian folklore

''One Thousand and One Nights''

The ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

'' collection includes several tales featuring "sea people", such as "Jullanâr the Sea-born and Her Son King Badr Bâsim of Persia". Unlike depictions of mermaids in other mythologies, these are anatomically identical to land-bound humans, differing only in their ability to breathe and live underwater. They can (and do) interbreed with land humans, and the children of such unions have the ability to live underwater. In the tale " Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman", the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land. The underwater society follows a form of

primitive communism Primitive communism is a way of describing the gift economies of hunter-gatherers throughout history, where resources and property hunted or gathered are shared with all members of a group in accordance with individual needs. In political sociolo ...

where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. In " The Adventures of Bulukiya", the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, where he encounters societies of mermaids.

Americas folklore

The Neo-Taíno nations of the

identify a mermaid called ''Aycayia'' with attributes of the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree ''

Hibiscus tiliaceus ''Hibiscus tiliaceus'', commonly known as the sea hibiscus or coast cottonwood, is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family, Malvaceae, with a pantropical distribution along coastlines. It has also been introduced to Florida and New Zeal ...

''. In modern Caribbean culture, there are a number of mermaids that are derived from West African originals and transplanted by enslaved West Africans. These include Watramama in Suriname and Guyana, Mamadjo in Grenada, Yemanya or Yemaya in Brazil and Cuba, Erzulie in Haiti, and Lamanté in Martinique. There is a mermaid recognized as a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an ''vodou''

loa , also called loa, are spirits in the African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou and Dominican Vudú. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their iden ...

called ''Lasirèn'' (from the French , "the mermaid"), representing wealth, beauty and romance, but also the possibility of death.

Iara and Ipupiara

In Brazilian folklore, the iara, also known as ''mãe-d'agua'' ("lady/mother of the water") is a water-dwelling beauty whom fishermen are prone to fall prey to. According to eighteenth-century sources, she is a long-haired woman who enchant men by night, and those who succumb die, "drowned by passion". Folklore also blamed disappearances of men on the Iara who lured them singing in the indigenous language. The ascribed hair and eye color differs depending on the tradition in various regions. According to the tale of the Manaus tribe, she has hair of the color of the pau d'arco tree's flowers (var. green hair) and pink skin, while she is black-haired according to some. Other commentators insist Iara is a "beautiful white woman who lives in a river", reputedly golden-haired, and blue-eyed, "ALAMOA": "." though the blond, blue-eyed image was not attested until after the mid-nineteenth century, to the best knowledge of Camara Cascudo., "IARA", cross-referenced to: "MÃE-D'ÁGUA". Cascudo in his earlier writing contended that though the Iara was rooted in two indigenous beings, the water-devil Ipupiara (cf. below) and the Cobra-Grande, he also saw the combining of the Portuguese lore of the

Enchanted Moura The Enchanted moura or (enchanted female Mouros) is a supernatural being from the fairy tales of Portuguese and Galician folklore. Very beautiful and seductive, she lives under an imposed occult spell. Shapeshifters, the occupy liminal space ...

(moorish girl), who was dark-skinned. The Iara became increasingly regarded as a woman-fish, after the image of the European sirens/mermaids. It is often argued that the legends of the Iara developed around the eighteenth century out of the indigenous myth of the among the

Tupinambá people The Tupinambá ( Tupinambás) are one of the various Tupi ethnic groups that inhabit present-day Brazil, and who had been living there long before the conquest of the region by Portuguese colonial settlers. The name Tupinambá was also applied t ...

. The Ipupiara was originally conceived of as a male water-dweller that carried fishermen to the bottom, devouring their mouths, nose, fingertips and genitals. European writers during the age of exploration disseminated the myth, but the (1576) included an illustration of "Hipupiàra" with female breasts. Subsequently the Jesuit wrote that the "Igpupiàra" also consisted of females that look like women with long hair. Though somewhat vague in the case of Gandavo, Cardim had injected Christian opinion of relegating the role of emasculating men to the female kind. Later with the introduction of African slaves, the Yoruba myth of Iemanjá was admixed into the telling.

Alamoa

The Alamoa is a well known legend in the island of

Fernando de Noronha Fernando de Noronha (), officially the State District of Fernando de Noronha () and formerly known as the Federal Territory of Fernando de Noronha () until 1988, is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, and ...

, 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. Again, modern commentary paints her as a "beautiful white woman ()", which would be consistent with the name Alamoa being an older form of , which now means "blonde, fair-skinned woman" whereas older literature describes her as

fulvous Fulvous is a colour, sometimes described as dull orange, brownish-yellow or tawny; it can also be likened to a variation of buff, beige or butterscotch. As an adjective it is used in the names of many species of birds, and occasionally other ...

or tawny (), though dressed in white, as according to (d. 1923). 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, resulting in disappearances, except cries of terror can be occasionally heard. The Alamoa evidently maintains an underwater palace as well. These elements (skull, light, palace) are lacking in European (Dutch) lore, though general similarity to Holland's mermaid has been suggested.

Reported sightings

Roman Lusitania and Gaul

In his ''

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'' 9.4.9–11,

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, remarked that a triton (merman) was seen off the coast of

Olisipo Municipium Cives Romanorum Felicitas Julia Olisipo (in Latin: ''Olisippo'' or ''Ulyssippo'' ; in Greek: ''Ὀλισσιπών'', ''Olissipṓn'', or ''Ὀλισσιπόνα'', ''Olissipóna'') was the ancient name of modern-day Lisbon while it w ...

(present-day

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal), and it bore the physical appearance in accordance with common notion of the triton, according to a deputation from Lisbon who reported it to Emperor Tiberus. One nereid was sighted earlier on the same (Lisbon) coast. Pliny remarks that contrary to popular notion, the true nereids are not smooth-skinned in their human-like portions, but covered with scales all over the body. Their mournful 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 of

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, who informed the late

Emperor Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in ...

about it in a letter. Sixteenth-century Swedish writer

Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (born Olof Månsson; October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic clergyman. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his Swedish birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in Octo ...

quotes the same passage from Pliny, and further notes that the nereid are said to utter "dismal moans (wailings) at the hour of her death", thus observing a connection to the legend of sea-nymphs and the sister Fates whose clashing cymbals and flute tunes could be heard on shore. Olaus in a later passage states that the nereids (tr. "mermaids") are known to "sing plaintively", in general. It has been conjectured that these carcasses of nereids washed up on shore were "presumably seals".

Age of Exploration Americas and polar frontiers

In 1493, sailing off the coast of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

spotted three mermaids () which he said were not as beautiful as they are represented due to masculine features in their faces. He is widely believed to have seen

manatees Manatees (, family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living spe ...

, not mermaids. During

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

's second voyage on 15 June 1608, members of his crew reported sighting a mermaid in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

, either in the Norwegian or

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

s. Dutch explorer David Danell during his expeditions to

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

in 1652–54 claimed to have spotted a mermaid with "flowing hair and very beautiful", though the crew failed to capture it.

Colonial Brazil

Danish physician and natural historian

Thomas Bartholin Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

wrote about a mermaid specimen caught in Brazil (probably a manatee) and subsequently dissected at Leiden. Though referred to in the text as a "sea-man" (''homo marinus'') from Brazil, the account was accompanied by an engraved drawing captioned "Sirene", whose appearance was that of a humanoid female with bared breasts (a mermaid).: "" The specimen's body was deformed and "without the sign of a tail", matching the drawing. And "a membrane

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

join he fingerstogether" is also reflected in the drawing as well (as her webbed pair of hands/forepaws). The specimen's account and illustration was later reproduced by Linnaeus, who captioned the beast "Siren Bartholini", hence "Bartholin's Siren". Bartholin was actually not the sole proprietor of the specimen, but he came into possession of its hand and ribs, which he also illustrated in his book (figures above). Based on the illustration, the "hand" has been determined to be the front flipper belonging to a manatee by a team of researchers. Bartholin himself had argued that it was a sea mammal closely related to seals (''phocae''). His rationale was that since there are several marine counterparts to land mammals e.g. "sea-horses", the possibility of a marine creature with striking likeness to humans could not be ruled out, though they should all be classified among seal-kind. Erasmus Francisci ( Erasmus Finx, 1668) associated this Brazilian specimen with the local native lore of the "Yupiapra" (Ipupiara).

Dutch Formosa

According to

Frederick Coyett Frederick Coyett (), born in Stockholm c. 1615 or 1620, buried in Amsterdam on 17 October 1687, was a Swedish nobleman and the last colonial governor for the Dutch colony of Formosa. He was the first Swede to travel to Japan and China and became ...

, the last Dutch governor of Formosa (aka

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

), many people saw mermaids appearing in the waters near the Fort Zeelandia during

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen () and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (, from Taiwanese: ''kok sèⁿ iâ''), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of Chin ...

's 17th-century attack on the Dutch. The Dutch came to the waterways to search carefully, but they were gone. It was regarded as a sign of imminent disaster.

Colonial Southeast Asia

Seventeenth-century Visayas

Jonston1657-Tab-XL-piscis-anthropomorphos

A type of mermaid referred to as "anthropomorphus" or "woman-fish" () allegedly inhabited the Spanish-ruled

, particularly in the waters around the

Visayan Islands The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands ( Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the arch ...

, according to contemporary writings from the seventeenth century. The accounts are found in several books, on various topics from magnetism, to natural history, to ecclesiastical history. These books refer to the mermaid/merman as "''piscis anthropomorphos''" (), and emphasize how human-like they appear in their upper bodies, as well as providing woodcut or etchings illustrating the male and female of the part-human part-fish creature. The "woman-fish" (or in modern Spanish)) was the name given to the creature among the Spaniards, but the sources also state it was called "duyon" by the indigenous people. and it is assumed the actual creature was a dugong (according to modern translators' notes). Several of these sources mention the medical use of the woman-fish to control the flow of blood (or the

four humours Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 17th ce ...

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

Eighteenth-century Moluccas

Allegedly captured in the Moluccas in the seventeenth century was the so-called "Amboina mermaid" (after the then Dutch Province of Ambon), which its leading researcher has referred to as Samuel Fallours's "Sirenne", after the man who came into possession of it and made an original painting of it in full color. The painting was reproduced by Louis Renard on the "Fish" of the region, first published in 1719, It was supposedly caught by Boeren in Ambon Province (

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon Island, Ambon and Seram Island, Seram island ...

, in present-day

Maluku Province Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia and geographically located in West-Melanesia, between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, and comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, South ...

), presumably around the years 1706–1712, or perhaps the year 1712 precisely. During this period, Fallours served briefly as soldier for the VOC (

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

) starting June 1706, but turned associate curate (Krankbezoeker) for the Dutch Reformed Church (September 1706 to June 1712). Fallour's mermaid with additional details were described by

François Valentijn François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...

in a 1726 book. The mermaid was 59 Dutch inches () long, or 5 feet in Rhineland measures. She reportedly survived 4 days 7 hours in a water tank, and died after refusing food it was given, having uttered no intelligible sound, or issuing sounds like screechings of a mouse. Something like a straw cape (Japanese '' mino'') appears wrapped around her waist in the painting according to one commentator, but Fallours revealed in his notes that he lifted the front and back fins and " oundit was shaped like a woman". The mermaid was suspected to be a dugong in reality, even by contemporary scholars such as Georg Rumphius, although Valentijn was unable to believe they were the one and the same. Leading researcher Theodore W. Pietsch concurs with the dugong identification, but an ichthyologist has opined that "I could more easily accept a small oar-fish, or another eel-like fish, rather than a dugong as a partial basis for the drawing", noting that Renard's book carries an illustration of a plausibly realistic dugong as well.

Qing dynasty China

The ''Yuezhong jianwen'' (; "Seens and Heards", or "Jottings on the South of China", 1730) contains two accounts concerning mermaids. In the first, a man captures a mermaid ( "sea woman") on the shore of

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the ...

(). 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.

U.S. and Canada

Two sightings were reported in Canada near

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, one from sometime between 1870 and 1890, the other from 1967. A Pennsylvania fisherman reported five sightings of a mermaid in the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

near Marietta in June 1881.

Twenty-first century

In August 2009, after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out of

Haifa Bay The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay (, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also refers one of Haifa's ni ...

waters and doing aerial tricks, the Israeli coastal town of

Kiryat Yam Kiryat Yam (, lit. ''Sea Town'') is a city in the Haifa Bay district of Israel, north of Haifa. One of a group of Haifa suburbs known as the Krayot, it is located on the Mediterranean coast, between Kiryat Haim and the Tzur Shalom industrial ar ...

offered a $1 million award for proof of its existence. In February 2012, work on two reservoirs near Gokwe and

Mutare Mutare, formerly known as Umtali until 1982, is the capital and largest city in the province of Manicaland. It is the third most populated in Zimbabwe. Having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 ...

in Zimbabwe stopped when workers refused to continue, stating that mermaids had hounded them away from the sites. It was reported by Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, the water resources minister.

Hoaxes and show exhibitions

Manufactured merfolk specimens

A celebrated example of mermaid hoax was the

Fiji mermaid The Fiji mermaid (also Feejee mermaid) was an object composed of the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. It was a common feature of sideshows where it was presented as the mummified body of a creature that was su ...

exhibited in London in 1822 and later in America by

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was ...

in 1842; in this case an investigator claims to have traced the mermaid's manufacture to a Japanese fisherman. Baien-gyofu-033-ningyo-crop

Fake mermaids made in China and the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...

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. The manufacture of mermaids from monkey and fish parts also occurred in Japan, especially in the Kyūshū region, as a souvenir industry targeting foreigners. Mōri Baien painted full color illustrations of such a compositely manufactured ''

ningyo , as the name suggests, is a creature with both human and fish-like features, described in various pieces of Japanese literature. Though often translated as "mermaid", the term is technically not gender-specific and may include the "merman, merm ...

'' specimen in his ichthyological tract (1825). For much of the Edo Period,

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

(in Kyūshū) was the only trade port open to foreign countries, and the only place where non-Japanese aliens could reside. Jan Cock Blomhoff, the

director stationed in

Dejima or Deshima, in the 17th century also called , was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan, that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1858). For 220 years, it was the central con ...

, Nagasaki is known to have acquired merfolk mummies; these and other specimens are now held in the National Museum of Ethnology in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, Netherlands. Mashhad museum PARI DARYAEI

The equivalent industry in Europe was the Jenny Haniver made from dried rays. In the middle of the seventeenth century,

John Tradescant the elder John Tradescant the Elder (; c. 1570s – 15–16 April 1638), father of John Tradescant the Younger, was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller. Life John Tradescant was probably born in Suffolk. On 18 June 1607 he married El ...

created a

wunderkammer Cabinets of curiosities ( and ), also known as wonder-rooms ( ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, t ...

(called Tradescant's Ark) in which he displayed, among other things, a "mermaid's hand".

Mermaid shows

Scantily clad women placed in watertanks and impersonating mermaids performed at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...

. It was part of the "Dream of Venus" installation by

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

artist

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

. The mermaid interacted with Oscar the Obscene Octopus, and the ongoings were portrayed in

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama, including the ...

's novel ''

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

''. Professional female divers have performed as mermaids at Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs since 1947. The state park calls itself "The Only City of Live Mermaids" and was extremely popular in the 1960s, drawing almost one million tourists per year. Most of the current performers work part-time while attending college, and all are certified

Scuba Scuba, originally SCUBA, often expanded to scuba set, is any self contained underwater breathing apparatus, a source of breathing gas used for underwater diving which is carried by the diver. Scuba may also refer to: * Scuba diving, swimming unde ...

divers. They wear fabric tails and perform aquatic

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

(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 with

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

or any other mythical character, we always say yes. We're not going to tell them they're not real". The Ama are Japanese skin divers, predominantly women, who traditionally dive for

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

wearing only a loincloth and who have been in action for at least 2,000 years. Starting in the twentieth century, they have increasingly been regarded as a tourist attraction. They operate off

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s near the shore, and some perform for sightseers instead of diving to collect a harvest. They have been romanticized as mermaids.

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 popular

marine science Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

website ''DeepSeaNews''. Five of the primary reasons listed as to why mermaids do not fit current evolutionary understanding are: *

thermoregulation Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

(adaptations for regulating body heat); * evolutionary mismatch; * reproductive challenges; * digestive differences between mammals and fish; * lack of physical evidence. Mermaids were also discussed in a scientific article by

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

emeritus oceanographer Karl Banse. His article was written as a parody, 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), dates no older than the 18th century. No analogues were found by Child outside the English language, though versions were transmitted to America. In Norway the was considered the harbinger of "storm and bad weather" ( under Scandinavian Folklore). The notion of the mermaid signifying bad omen is both Western and Eastern. A number of such omens were recorded in Japan by the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...

, for example, the entry in the ''

Azuma kagami is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in ...

'' for 1247 ( Hōji 1) records a beaching of a "big fish" (as it was called here), tied to the the same year. (Cf. for additional examples).

Myth interpretations

According to Dorothy Dinnerstein's book ''The Mermaid and the Minotaur'', human-animal hybrids such as mermaids and

minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

s convey the emergent understanding of ancient peoples that humans were both one with and different from animals:

Arts, entertainment, and media

Literature

The best-known example of mermaids in literature is probably Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "

", first published in 1837. The title character, youngest of the Merman-king's daughters, falls in love with a human prince and also longs for an eternal

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

like humans, despite the shorter lifespan. The two cravings are intertwined: only by achieving true love will her soul bind with a human's and become everlasting. But the mermaid's fish-tail poses an insurmountable obstacle for enticing humans, and a sea-witch offers a potion to transform into human form, at a price (the mermaid's tongue and beautiful voice). The mermaid endures the excruciating pain of having human legs, and despite her inability to speak, almost succeeds in wedding the prince, but for a twist of fate. The mermaid is doomed unless she stabs the prince with a magic knife on his wedding night. She refuses to harm him and dies the mermaid way, dissolving into foam. However, her selflessness has earned her a second chance at salvation, and she is resurrected as an air spirit. Andersen's works has been translated into over 100 languages. One of the main literary influences for Andersen's mermaid was ''

'', an earlier German novella about a water nymph who could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human. Andersen's heroine inspired a bronze sculpture in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

harbour and influenced Western literary works such as

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's '' The Fisherman and His Soul'' and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

' '' The Sea Lady''.

Sue Monk Kidd Sue Monk Kidd (born August 12, 1948) is an American writer from Sylvester, Georgia. She is best known for her historical novels, which frequently deal with themes of race, feminism, and religion and include '' The Secret Life of Bees'' and '' Th ...

wrote a book called ''

The Mermaid Chair ''The Mermaid Chair'' is a 2005 novel written by American novelist Sue Monk Kidd, which has also been adapted as a Lifetime movie. Synopsis ''The Mermaid Chair'' is the tale of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman whose stifled dreams and des ...

'' loosely based on the legends of Saint Senara and the

mermaid of Zennor The ''Mermaid of Zennor'' () is a Cornish folk tale which originates in the village of Zennor. The legend tells the story of a mysterious woman who occasionally attended the parish church of Zennor; a young man followed her home one day, and n ...

Art and music

Sculptures and statues of mermaids can be found in many countries and cultures, with over 130

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

mermaid statues across the world. Countries with public art mermaid sculptures include Russia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, India, China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), the United States (including Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and Canada. Some of these mermaid statues have become icons of their city or country, and are major tourist attractions in themselves. ''

'' statue in Copenhagen is an icon of that city as well as of Denmark. The

Havis Amanda ''Havis Amanda'' is a fountain and a statue in Helsinki, Finland by the sculptor Ville Vallgren (1855–1940). The work was modelled in 1906 in Paris, and erected at its present location at the Market Square in Kaartinkaupunki in 1908. Today ...

statue symbolizes the rebirth of the city of

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. The Syrenka (mermaid) is part of the

coat of Arms of Warsaw The coat of arms of Warsaw (The Warsaw Mermaid) consists of a ''Mermaid of Warsaw, syrenka'' in a Gules, red field. This imagery has been in use since at least the mid-14th century. The syrenka has traditionally held a silver sword although this ...

, and is considered a protector of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, which publicly displays statues of their mermaid. An influential image was created by the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

painter

John William Waterhouse John William Waterhouse (baptised 6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His paintings are known for ...

, from 1895 to 1905, entitled ''

A Mermaid ''A Mermaid'' is a 1900 oil painting by the British artist John William Waterhouse. It was inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1830 poem ''The Mermaid''. He produced an oil sketch for the work in 1892. Waterhouse presented it to the Royal Academy ...

'' (Cf. figure, top of page). An example of late British Academy-style artwork, the piece debuted to considerable acclaim (and secured Waterhouse's place as a member of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

), but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s. It is currently once again in the Royal Academy's collection. Waterhouse's mermaid grooms her hair with comb and mirror, the stereotypical implements of the mermaid, likely designed to portray her as temptress, and her red hair (

auburn hair Auburn hair is a human hair color, a variety of red hair, most commonly described as reddish-brown in color. Auburn hair ranges in shades from medium to dark. It can be found with a wide array of skin tones and eye colors. The chemical pigment ...

) is a match for the hair colour of Venus. Waterhouses's ''The Siren'' (1900) also depicts the siren as a mermaid of sorts, representing the ''

'' drawing men to destruction. In the modern age of course, the word "siren" is used as a synonym of ''femme fatale''. Mermaids were a favorite subject of

John Reinhard Weguelin John Reinhard Weguelin (23 June 1849 – 28 April 1927) was an English painter and illustrator, active from 1877 to after 1910. He specialized in figurative paintings with lush backgrounds, typically landscapes or garden scenes. Weguelin emulat ...

, a contemporary of Waterhouse. He painted an image of the mermaid of Zennor as well as several other depictions of mermaids in watercolour. Musical depictions of mermaids include those by

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

in his ''Fair Melusina'' overture and the three " Rhine daughters" in

's opera ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...

''.

, the name of a Rhine mermaid immortalized in the

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

poem of that name, has become a synonym for a siren. ''The Weeping Mermaid'' is an orchestral piece by Taiwanese composer Fan-Long Ko.

Motion pictures

Film depictions include '' Miranda'' (1948), ''

Night Tide ''Night Tide'' is a 1961 American independent fantasy film sometimes considered to be a horror film, written and directed by Curtis Harrington and featuring Dennis Hopper in his first starring role. It was filmed in 1960, premiered in 1961, but ...

'' (1961), the romantic comedy '' Splash'' (1984), and '' Aquamarine'' (2006). A 1963 episode of the television series ''

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

'' entitled "The Cruelest Sea of All" featured a mermaid performance artist working at Weeki Wachee aquatic park. Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television series ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...

''. In '' She Creature'' (2001), two carnival workers abduct a mermaid in Ireland and attempt to transport her to America. The film '' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'' mixes old and new myths about mermaids: singing to sailors to lure them to their death, growing legs when taken onto dry land, and bestowing kisses with magical healing properties.

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's musical animated version of Andersen's tale, ''

'', was released in 1989. 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.

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

's ''

Ponyo is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distri ...

'' is an animated film about a

who wants to become a human girl with the help of her human friend Sosuke. The Australian teen

dramedy Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

'' H₂O: Just Add Water'' chronicles the adventures of three modern-day mermaids along the Gold Coast of Australia. The

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

coffee logo is a

melusine Mélusine () or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a nixie (folklore), female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a Serpent symbolism, serpent or Fish in culture, fish fr ...

Heraldry

, the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror, and

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

ed as a "mermaid in her vanity". In addition to vanity, mermaids are also a symbol of eloquence. Mermaids appear with greater frequency as heraldic devices than mermen do. A merman and a mermaid are depicted on the coat of arms of

Schouwen-Duiveland Schouwen-Duiveland () is a municipality and an island in the southwestern Netherlands province of Zeeland. The municipality has 33,737 inhabitants (1 January 2016) and covers an area of (of which is water). The northside of the island has two fi ...

. A mermaid appears on the arms of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, in addition to those of several British families. A mermaid with two tails is referred to as a

. Melusines appear in German heraldry, and less frequently in the British version. A shield and sword-wielding mermaid ('' Syrenka'') is on the official

coat of arms of Warsaw The coat of arms of Warsaw (The Warsaw Mermaid) consists of a ''Mermaid of Warsaw, syrenka'' in a Gules, red field. This imagery has been in use since at least the mid-14th century. The syrenka has traditionally held a silver sword although this ...

. Images of a mermaid have symbolized Warsaw on its arms since the middle of the fourteenth century. Several legends associate

of Greek mythology with the city, which may have been the origin of the mermaid's association. The Cusack family crest includes a mermaid wielding a sword, as depicted on a memorial stone for Sir Thomas Cusack (1490–1571). Mermaids appear on the coat of arms of Ustka,

Białobrzegi Białobrzegi is a town in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, about south of Warsaw. It is the capital of the Białobrzegi County and Gmina Białobrzegi (commune). The town is located on the border of the ''Białobrzegi Valley'' and ''Radom Plain'' ...

and

Białobrzegi County __NOTOC__ Białobrzegi County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in ...

(Poland), Seeboden am Millstätter See (Austria),

Bray Bray may refer to: Places France * Bray, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Bray, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Bray-Dunes, in the Nord ''département'' * Bray-en-Val, in the Loiret ''département'' * Bray-et-Lû ...

(Ireland),

Santa Colomba de Curueño Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christma ...

, Ruente,

Bertizarana Bertizarana is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa ...

Villanueva de la Serena Villanueva de la Serena () is a city in the Province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. It has a population of 26,111 (2010) and forms part of a larger urban area with the neighbouring town of Don Benito. History Founded in the thirteenth century ...

(Spain),

Päijät-Häme Päijät-Häme (; ) is a Regions of Finland, region in Southern Finland south of the lake Päijänne. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Kanta-Häme, Pirkanmaa, Central Finland, Southern Savonia, South Savo and Kymenlaakso. The biggest city in t ...

(Finland),

Åsgårdstrand Åsgårdstrand (historically spelled ''Aasgaardstrand'') is a small port List of towns and cities in Norway, town in both Horten Municipality, Horten and Tønsberg Municipality, Tønsberg municipalities in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is loc ...

(Norway), Royat, Xammes,

Lancieux Lancieux (; ; Gallo: ''Lansioec'') is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Toponymy Lancieux derives its name from the Breton ''lann'' ("hermitage") and ''Seoc'', ''Cieux'', or ''Sieu'', a monk who c ...

, Erquy, Chens-sur-Léman, Didenheim,

Wimereux Wimereux (; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France north of Boulogne-sur-Mer, on the banks of the small river Wimereux. The river Slack forms the northern border of the commune and the Englis ...

(France),

Eemsmond Eemsmond (; ) is a former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality with a population of 15,864 in the north of the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. On 1 January 2019 it merged with the municip ...

, Makkum,

Uithuizermeeden Uithuizermeeden is a village in the Netherlands, with a population of about 3,200 people. It is part of the municipality of Het Hogeland, close to the Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( ; ; or ; ; ; ) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part o ...

(Netherlands),

Waasmunster Waasmunster () is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, ...

(Belgium), and Westerdeichstrich (Germany). The city of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, Virginia also uses a mermaid as a symbol. The personal coat of arms of

Michaëlle Jean Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian former journalist who served as the 27th governor general of Canada from 2005 to 2010. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person to hold this office. Jean was the Organisation i ...

, former

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

, features two mermaids as supporters.

Fandom

Interest in mermaid costuming has grown with the popularity of fantasy

cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...

, as well as the availability of inexpensive

monofin A monofin is a type of swimfin typically used in underwater sports such as finswimming, free-diving and underwater orienteering. It consists of a single or linked surfaces attached to both of the diver's feet, emulating the fluke of Cetaceans ...

s used in the construction of these costumes. The costumes are typically designed to be used while swimming, in an activity known as

mermaiding Mermaiding (also referred to as artistic mermaiding, mermaidry, or artistic mermaid performance) is the practice of wearing, and often swimming in, a costume mermaid tail. In the beginning of the twentieth century mermaiding was sometimes refe ...

. Mermaid

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significan ...

conventions have also been held.

Gallery

Illustrations and paintings

Sculptures

Carvings

Other uses

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

General and cited references

* * * * * * * *
Older archived version
with brief synopsis and commentary * *
Vol. 2 (J–Z)
* * * * * * * * * * * Jøn, A. Asbjørn
Dugongs and Mermaids, Selkies and Seals
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baekur.is
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google
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External links

Becoming Mermaids
��American Museum of Natural History {{Authority control Heraldic beasts Medieval legends Piscine and amphibian humanoids Nereids Oceanids Therianthropy Water spirits Fairy tale stock characters